Halo “saved two lives” at Silverstone today, says Sainz

2022 British Grand Prix

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Carlos Sainz Jnr said the FIA deserves praise for the for safety improvements it has made in recent years after drivers survived two dramatic crashes at Silverstone.

A major crash at the start of the grand prix saw Zhou Guanyu’s Alfa Romeo flip onto its halo crash structure. His car then cleared a tyre barrier and came to a rest upside-down.

It was the second crash of the day in which the halo, which was introduced four years ago, played a vital safety role. During the Formula 2 feature race Dennis Hauger’s car was launched on top of Roy Nissany’s, landing on the halo.

The British Grand Prix winner said he avoided watching footage of Zhou’s crash between the initial start and the restart. “I knew there must have been a big shunt for a red flag, but I didn’t watch the TV,” he said. “So obviously I was incredibly happy to see Zhou coming out of the car without major issues.”

Speaking in the FIA press conference after seeing footage of the crash for the first time, Sainz said he was “completely shocked” by the scale of the accident.

“It was incredible, the crash and the fact he came out of it, it’s crazy,” he said. “I just find it incredible that he can come out of it.

“It just shows, we sometimes criticise the FIA but in other cases you need to give it to them, how much they’ve been helping us. If you see the crash in F2 this morning and what happened with the halo, they saved probably two lives and we need to give it to them.”

Sainz said that he was relieved to be racing with such high standards of safety. “I feel so happy to be racing in Formula 1 in an era where we are pushing each other [at] higher than 300 kph like you saw today, racing.

“You guys cannot imagine the speeds we’re doing in the high speed, changing directions, fighting for position and knowing that you can do that safely or within a safety window, I thank them for this.”

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2022 British Grand Prix

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Author information

Hazel Southwell
Hazel is a motorsport and automotive journalist with a particular interest in hybrid systems, electrification, batteries and new fuel technologies....

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16 comments on “Halo “saved two lives” at Silverstone today, says Sainz”

  1. I am sorry, but that’s BS. I’ve seen plenty of times the drivers turning upside down without the halo, and they didn’t die. Some people are getting too far.

    1. Agree completely, this madness needs to stop. Nissany’s was nasty but no worse than Wurz/DC at Melbourne in 2006 I think.

      Can we all just remind ourselves too that the rollhoop is no longer a structural part of the car as the halo replaced it…

    2. +1
      The heart wants what the heart wants.

    3. Though I agree we’ve seen many upside downs without halos in the past, the F2 crash was scarier with the car landing on the halo. Pretty sure Roy Nissany loves it.

    4. SHR Modding
      4th July 2022, 3:19

      Yes but this time the roll hoop broke off so the halo was the highest point on the car. You not seen the pics?

    5. In Zhou case he could be serious hurt if not the floor but the cockpit would hit the fence. Those inpact is what the Halo is for not the part upturned in the gravel.

    6. And to add to the drama they left ‘probably’ out of the (mis)quote.
      But it serves its purpose; notice us all clicking and commenting.

  2. Congrats to everyone involved in creating these safety regulations! Make cars even heavier and put more launch pads on circuits, that’ll keep good ol’ halo busy! FIA and FOM are very lucky today that Alfa Romeo tanker didn’t clear the fencing and landed in the grandstand.

    1. @armchairexpert, did you see in the overhead shot that marshals were scattering behind the tyre barrier from where the car landed. And yes, I was surprised how high the car went on the catch fence and wondered if they’ll now need to reassess the heights of those fences.

  3. Agree, the obsessive halo fetish is getting boring, its almost like Liberty media have shares in halo inc.(!) where are the “HAIL SEATBELTS” after every crash or hail Ron Dennis for introducing full carbon tub cars with deformable crash structures that probably saved 100s of drivers from certain deaths if they continued to drive metal sardine can cars..?

    I understand that asking critical questions regarding FOM/liberty is taboo but is anyone going to ask the basic questions like the unsafe sausage curbs that launched the F2 car and how mega high tech F1 roll hoop failed due to not being able to take the force of a full full loaded car catapulting over the tyre barrier and to almost landing in the grandstand?

    Yes the halo is wonderful but isn’t that a given with the advancement of race car safety over the 50+ years ?

    1. @ccpbioweapon I think the reason they highlight the Halo so much in cases where it helps protect a driver is because of how much opposition there was to it’s introduction and how many fans still complain about it and call it unnecessary.

      Even after today there are anti-Halo fans trying to marginalize the role it played in the accidents today which is ridiculous as it clearly helped save 2 drivers from injury or worse.

      I think it’s right to point out when it helps save drivers as it just shows how little the Anti-Halo ‘fans’ actually know and how little they care about helping drivers not suffer injury or worse.

      1. It clearly didn’t, though. And that’s the problem, assumptions are presented as fact.

  4. Yes stop this praise of a safety device drivers! Internet website users everywhere are mildly annoyed by your constant (or even seldom) praise of this structure. And please don’t even dare to have opinions on political issues, then the comment section really really gets all hot and bothered and they might have to use the power of multiple angry posts.

  5. That just shows how heavy those cars are and how much they can cause damage.

  6. I wonder what will happen when something ricochet from “halo” into a driver like Felipe Massa incident…Indy Car solution is the best,but elitist from fia and f1 would never copy American practical solution even if it is better.

  7. Comments in this post are insane

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