‘Halo’ saves Lewis Hamilton’s life as Max Verstappen’s car lands on his head

Lewis Hamilton is lucky to be alive as he blamed fierce rival Max Verstappen for a terrifying crash that could have been so much worse.

Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen collide at the Italian Grand Prix. (Photo by ANDREJ ISAKOVIC / AFP)

Another fiery chapter in this year’s epic F1 championship battle was written when Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton crashed out of the Italian Grand Prix in a controversial incident.

The pair were forced out of the race when they became tangled up in a nasty crash midway through the Grand Prix at Monza, which was won by Australia’s Daniel Ricciardo.

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After Verstappen and Hamilton both had slow pit stops, they started racing each other down the straight before carnage ensued. Hamilton was just in front going in to Turn 1 but Verstappen attempted to pass him on the tricky Turn 2 chicane.

However, there wasn’t enough room for Verstappen to overtake and he slid onto the bumpy “sausage kerbs” at Turn 2 before colliding with Hamilton’s Mercedes on the tight corner.

Both cars were pushed off the track on to the gravel and the awkward crash left Verstappen’s Red Bull partially perched on top on Hamilton’s Mercedes.

Although the crash occurred at relatively low speed, it resulted in scary scenes with Verstappen’s right rear tyre making contact with Hamilton’s head, which was only protected by the “halo” mechanism on his car.

Speaking after the race, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said: “Halo definitely saved Lewis’s life today.

“It would have been a horrible accident, that I don’t even want to think about, if we wouldn’t have had the halo.”

Taking to Instagram after the race, Hamilton added: “It’s days like today, I am reminded of how lucky I am. It takes a millisecond to go from racing to a very scary situation. Today someone must have been looking down, watching over me!

“My neck’s a bit sore as the adrenaline wears off — it was a bit of a hit on the head, so naturally I have one big headache but I’m doing okay! The halo stopped the crash from being a lot worse and I’m incredibly grateful to all those that work to make our cars and racing safer.”

Max Verstappen’s Red Bull ended up on top of Lewis Hamilton’s head. (Photo by Peter Van Egmond/Getty Images)

Verstappen was fuming as he made the long walk back to the garage and the discussion around who was at fault quickly started with many commentators arguing the crash was simply a racing incident.

After the race finished, the stewards handed Verstappen a three-place grid penalty, effectively laying blame at the Dutchman. The sanction means Verstappen will start three spots below his qualifying position at the Russian Grand Prix in two weeks’ time.

Verstappen and Hamilton are in a fierce battle for the drivers’ championship and have collided with each other several times this season.

The pair bumped wheels on Turn 4 of the first lap at the Italian Grand Prix, while Verstappen famously crashed out of the British Grand Prix at high speed when Hamilton clipped his wheels on the first lap at Silverstone.

Hamilton was adamant he gave his rival sufficient space but believed there was not enough room for Verstappen to try and overtake him.

“Max was coming, I made sure I left a car’s width on the outside for him,” he said after the race.

“I went in to Turn 1 and I was ahead and I was ahead going in to Turn 2 and then all of a sudden he was on top of me.

“He just didn’t want to give way today. He knew that when he was going in to Turn 2 what was going to happen. He knew that he was going over the kerb but he still did it.”

Thanks goodness for the halo. (Photo by ANDREJ ISAKOVIC / AFP)

Hamilton said he was feeling a bit worse for wear after part of Verstappen’s car landed on his head.

“A little bit stiff, bit sore in my neck to be honest because it landed on my head but I’ll be OK,” Hamilton said.

Taking to social media after the race, Verstappen said he felt Hamilton “squeezed” him out and didn’t give him enough room.

“Today was very unfortunate,” he wrote. “The incident could have been avoided if I had been left enough space to make the corner.

“You need 2 people to make that work and I feel I was squeezed out of it. When racing each other, these things can happen, unfortunately.

As expected, the Red Bull and Mercedes team bosses disagreed on who was at fault.

“If you look at it objectively, it’s a 50-50 incident, it’s a racing incident,” Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said.

“I would say, in football you call it a tactical foul,” Wolff countered. “He probably knew that if Lewis stays ahead, that is the race win possibly.”

Wolff said it is critical Hamilton and Verstappen find a way to race hard but avoid these serious crashes.

“If we don’t manage that in the right way … this is going to continue,” he said.

“We had a high-speed crash in Silverstone, we had one car ending on top of the other one on Lewis’ head here.

“So how far can we go? Maybe next time we have a high-speed crash and land on each other.”

Horner agreed, although he was more philosophical about his driver’s rivalry with Hamilton.

Max Verstappen wasn’t a happy customer after the crash. (Photo by Dan Istitene - Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images)

“They’re competitive animals and they’re fighting hard for this world championship and I think ultimately there is a respect between the two of them,” he said.

“I’m sure the two of them will discuss it in front of the stewards and then I think you move on to the next race.

“They're going to be starting next to each other for the majority of the remaining races so they are going to be racing each other.”

Verstappen maintains a slender five-point lead over Hamilton in the championship, which looks set to go down to the wire this year.

Italian Grand Prix results

1. Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren)

2. Lando Norris (McLaren

3. Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes)

4. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)

5. Sergio Perez (Red Bull)

6. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)

7. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)

8. Fernando Alonso (Alpine)

9. George Russell (Williams)

10. Esteban Ocon (Alpine)