F1 News
Halo engineer: 'Hamilton wasn't simply lucky, it was science'
- GPblog.com
Lewis Hamilton came out of the crash with Max Verstappen at Monza virtually unscathed thanks to the halo. Although gratitude is widely given for the luck that was on Hamilton's side, halo engineer Clive Temple stresses that it wasn't just luck.
Hamilton saved by halo
Verstappen and Hamilton gave each other no quarter after a failed pit stop but a masterful outlap by Verstappen at Monza. The only result was that Verstappen ended up on top of Hamilton in the gravel.
Hamilton felt blessed that the halo had saved him from a worse outcome. Team boss Toto Wolff underlined that the halo had one hundred percent certainly saved Hamilton's life.
Not luck, but science
One of the chief engineers who worked on the halo introduced in F1 in 2018, Clive Temple of Cranfield University, therefore says that it was not 'luck' that saved Hamilton's life in Italy.
Autosport.com quotes the Brit: “It is a fact that engineering and science underpin all of this work which ensures drivers are safe. Safety is the primary concern in motorsport."
Temple concludes: “As this crash has proven, the halo is exceptionally strong and is integral to other safety critical elements within the car. Hamilton experiencing Verstappen’s car coming on top is probably around the equivalent of close to a London double decker bus landing on top of the car.”