Aug.31 (GMM) Two fierce critics of the ‘Halo’ system are not backing down, even after the Charles Leclerc incident at Spa.
After the incident involving Fernando Alonso’s flying McLaren, former double world champion Mika Hakkinen said he thinks the controversial cockpit protection saved Leclerc from injury “and maybe even death”.
But two Halo critics don’t think so.
“I’m glad that no one got hurt but this does not change my idea of formula one as a sport without Halo,” said Kevin Magnussen. “Just like a motorcycle is a two-wheeled vehicle.”
Also speaking at Monza, Max Verstappen agrees: “From my view I think the incident looked worse than it really was.
“A car almost never falls on another car, it simply slides on it. And the more devices you put over the driver, the more likely it is that this device will be hit.
“I think that if Halo was not there, the driver wouldn’t have been hurt either. I think the whole situation is more dramatic than it has to be,” the Red Bull driver added.
A third Halo critic is Nico Hulkenberg, but the German indicated that the Leclerc incident has caused him to somewhat change his mind.
“I think it’s proven pretty useful and a good device,” he said at Monza.
“Obviously we can only speculate what would have happened without it but it looked pretty clear from the tyre marks all over the Halo that it did a very good job.”