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“The man who saved Lewis Hamilton and Guanyu Zhou’s life”- Former F1 and Moto GP Champion who campaigned for Halo device after son’s death

Somin Bhattacharjee
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"The man who saved Lewis Hamilton and Guanyu Zhou's life"- Former F1 and Moto GP Champion who campaigned for Halo device after son's death

The Halo device was criticized initially, but it has proven to a life saving invention for the likes of Lewis Hamilton and Guanyu Zhou.

Last weekend in Silverstone, proved to be scary for both F1 and F2. In the latter’s feature race, Red Bull junior Dennis Hauger hit a sausage curb and landed on top of Roy Nissany’s car. Thankfully, the Israeli driver walked away unhurt, but it was only due to the Halo device installed on the cars.

Another big scare took place later in the day after a huge opening lap crash between multiple drivers. Alex Albon and Guanyu Zhou came off worst, and the former in particular endured a nasty few seconds when his car tumbled, went over the barrier and got stuck between itself and the fence.

The car was going at almost 160 mph when it flipped over, and the visuals were extremely disturbing. Miraculously, Zhou too walked away unscathed, and the F1 medical team declared him fit soon enough.

This led to fans and F1 figures thanking the Halo device installed on the cars.

Also read: “OMG HE BROKE THE MATRIX”– Lando Norris predicted Carlos Sainz’s maiden win at Silverstone way before

The man behind Halo device which saved Lewis Hamilton from terrible accident

John Surtees was the only man in history to win both the F1 and Moto GP Championships. This legendary racing figure went through terrible tragedy in 2009 when his son Henry, suffered a fatal crash at an F2 race.

He passed away due to a loose tyre hitting his head. And it raised plenty of questions regarding safety measures in the sport. In order to prevent others from going through the same thing, Surtees was a frontrunner in the campaign for F1 to introduce the Halo devices.

These devices were not aesthetically appealing to fans and drivers in the beginning. However, after saving so many lives over the last few years, it has now become a overwhelming necessity.

Seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton himself went through a scary crash of this type, when Max Verstappen’s Red Bull landed on top his W12 in Monza last year. The Brit too walked away unharmed, in what could have been a very different story had the Halo device not been there.

Also read: “Don’t encourage such reckless behavior” – Martin Brundle criticizes former Barcelona player for defending oil protesters at British GP

About the author

Somin Bhattacharjee

Somin Bhattacharjee

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Somin Bhattacharjee is an F1 editor at The SportsRush and has written more than 2000 articles. He holds a bachelor's degree in business administration and considers sports to be a part of his life. Somin has been a fan of Scuderia Ferrari since 2010 and his favorite driver is none another than the legendary Fernando Alonso. Other than longing for a Ferrari Championship win once again, Somin spends his free time playing football and basketball.

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