‘Saved my life’, Said the pilot in disbelief and gratitude, the pilot Guanyu Zhou after the very serious accident of the British Grand Prix at the Silverstone circuit with the Alfa Romeo team, which ended up overturned on the side of the track in his car and incredibly he was unharmed.
The altercation went around the world as Zhou flipped for several meters until his car hit the retaining wall and was under the stands. The car was totally destroyed.
“I’m fine, all clear. The halo saved me today. Thank you all for your kind messages!”Guanyu Zhou posted on his official Twitter account and a photo of himself without a single scratch after being evaluated at a hospital.
The competition stopped for an hour in which Guanyu Zhou touched the Englishman George Russell (Mercedes). Other affected pilots were the Frenchman Esteban Ocon (Alpine), the Japanese Yuki Tsunoda (Alpha Tauri) and the Thai Alex Albon (Williams).
After what happened this Sunday, the halo is more valued in Formula 1 and it is not the first time that this protection element saves lives. He had already done it with Nissany from a hair-raising accident in F2 when Dennis Hauger literally went flying and landed on top of Roy’s head and they both got off scot-free.
Also with Charles Leclerc in the Belgian Grand Prix or Lewis Hamilton in his touch with Max Verstappen in Monza.
Of course, the accident caused Guanyu Zhou, Alex Albon and George Rusell to withdraw from the race due to the state of their car. The most worrying thing for each of their teams is that they will have to work in record time this week to recover the car on the way to the Austrian Grand Prix, which is scheduled for next Sunday, July 10.
The function of the halo is to provide safety in single-seater motorsports and protects the cockpit from external forceful objects.
There are three flexible titanium bars located in front of and above the driver’s head, which weighs 10 kilograms and has been criticized for its aesthetic shape. In addition, it was claimed that it affects vision and that it makes it difficult to extract the pilot in the event of an accident. Ironically, Guanyu Zhou himself recognizes that because of the halo he is telling the story.
It was developed by the International Automobile Federation and has been used since 2018.
The halo is made of titanium and is a kind of curved T that is installed in the front of the cockpit. Resists up to 12 tons.