Formula 1 has released on social media footage of last Sunday's clash in the Italian GP between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton as filmed by the 360° cameras mounted on both drivers' car.
Although the run-in between the two title contenders occurred at low speed at Monza's first chicane, the contact led to Verstappen's Red Bull escalating Hamilton's Mercedes.
The RB16B's right rear wheel destroyed the top of the Mercedes' airbox and was only prevented from severely impacting Hamilton's head by the Halo whose presence may have saved the seven-time world champion from a fatal outcome.
A dramatic new angle on the Hamilton/Verstappen collision#ItalianGP 🇮🇹 #F1 pic.twitter.com/PvN2KGUbbi
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 14, 2021
The video clearly shows Verstappen's right rear wheel rolling over the top of the Mercedes and sliding along the Halo.
After the race, Hamilton reported suffering from neck pain as a result of being partly hit by the wheel.
But it's clear that F1's cockpit safety device, which became mandatory in 2018 for most all single-seater series worldwide sanctioned by the FIA, allowed the Briton to walk away from the crash, just as it saved Haas' Romain Grosjean from a terminal fate in Bahrain last year.
"Thank God for the halo that ultimately I think saved me and saved my neck," Hamilton said after last Sunday's race.
"I think in the actual moment, it was a big hit. But all I could think of is, could I get going again?"
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