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Formula 1 governing body will investigate Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix crash between title contenders Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton because it was “unusual”, according to race director Michael Masi.
The Australian said that although the collision took place at a relatively low speed, FIA safety experts would still examine.
The crash caused Verstappen’s Red Bull to take off from a curb and land on Hamilton’s Mercedes with the inside of a rear wheel hitting the seven-time World Champion’s helmet through the protective halo.
“Incidents that are different, so it’s not necessarily high G impacts or anything like that, but are unusual, we are looking at them,” Masi said.
“Our security department examines them in detail, investigates and sees what we can learn and what we can improve for the future. future.
“We are already collecting all the data, so we have all the information and it will all go to our security department with all the photographs and whatever we have along the way.”
Monza stewards blamed championship leader Verstappen and granted the 23-year-old Dutchman a three-spot drop on the grid for the next race in Russia.
Hamilton said it was a shock to be hit on the head and the titanium ring saved his life.
“I’m so, so grateful to be still here. I feel incredibly blessed. I feel like someone was watching over me today,” he said.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said the halo saved Hamilton’s life and Red Bull boss Christian Horner agreed the device, made mandatory in 2018 in the face of considerable opposition from some drivers, did his work.
“It was a very embarrassing accident and you could see Max’s car ride on the Mercedes and I think without the halo there wouldn’t have been any protection for the weight of that wheel coming down on Lewis,” Horner said. .
“I think the halo has proven its usefulness again in Formula One.”
FIA President Jean Todt posted on Twitter a photo of Red Bull atop the Mercedes with the comment “Glad the halo is here”.
Several F1 drivers have credited the device for saving their lives, including Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and former Haas driver Romain Grosjean.
“I wasn’t for the halo a few years ago, but I think it’s the best thing we’ve done in Formula 1,” he said after the device shielded him. head when his car slammed through barriers in a fiery accident in Bahrain last year.
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