Lewis Hamilton has credited the halo device on his Mercedes car for keeping him safe when Max Verstappen’s Red Bull car landed on the Mercedes car after a dramatic crash at the Italian Open here on Sunday The British driver also applauded the stewards at the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday for handing Verstappen a three-place grid penalty for the upcoming Russian Grand Prix.
Hamilton had just exited the pits after his stop on Lap 26 of 53 on Sunday when Verstappen came alongside him and tried to go around the outside of the Mercedes through Turn 1 to then claim the inside into Turn 2, leading to the pair making contact – with Verstappen’s Red Bull then thrown into the air and over the Mercedes, coming to a rest on top of the W12, with images showing Verstapp’n’s right-rear tyre hitting Hamilt’n’s helmet.
And speaking to the media about the incident, Hamilton praised the job that the halo had done in protecting him — while revealing that he would seek specialist medical help for pain in his neck as a result of the cras”.
“Honestly, I feel very fortunate “oday,” Hamilton was quoted as saying on F1’s official webs”te.
“Thank God for the halo, that ultimately, I think, saved me, and saved my neck… I don’t think I’ve ever been hit on the head by a car before and it’s quite a shock for me because I don’t know if you’ve seen the image but my head really is quite far forward. And I’ve been racing a long, long time, so I’m so, so grateful that I’m still “ere.”
“I think Angela [Cullen’ Hamilton’s personal physiotherapist] is going to be travelling me with me these next few days, but I probably will need to see a specialist, just to make sure it’s good for the next race, because it’s getting tighter and tighter… It definitely feels like it’s getting a little bit worse, as the adrenaline is [wearing] off, but I’ll work with Ang to fix it… “‘ll live!”
While Hamilton has blamed Verstappen for the crash and the stewards too have”deemed him “predominantly to blame” for the crash, the Dutch driver said it was Hamilton that “ran me out of road”.