In a season of technical strife and tension, Formula One united on Monday and saluted the sport’s ruling body and its ‘halo’ device for saving two lives in horrific accidents during the British Grand Prix.
In a spectacular race won by Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, Chinese rookie Zhou Guanyu survived a high-speed opening lap crash in which he was sent bouncing and scraping upside down across asphalt and gravel into the barriers.
His Alfa Romeo car was severely damaged, but the 23-year-old driver survived unhurt and conscious thanks to the once-controversial ‘halo’ cockpit protection device, made from titanium, which had earlier also saved the life of a Formula Two driver.
Zhou’s remarkable survival, without a scratch, enabled the sport to push aside arguments over ‘ground effect’ technology, bumpy and porpoising cars, and mid-season threats of looming rule changes in praise of something more important.
The ‘halo’ was pioneered by the International Motoring Federation (FIA), led by Charlie Whiting, the long-serving race director and safety delegate, who died suddenly at the Australian Grand Prix in 2019.