Breaking news
Formula 1
Whiting believes Alonso's tyre could have hit Leclerc
Formula 1 race director Charlie Whiting believes that the halo may have prevented Fernando Alonso's tyre from hitting Charles Leclerc's helmet in the Belgian Grand Prix crash.
Adam Cooper
Edited: Aug 31, 2018, 11:16 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
But he admits an investigation will be required in order to determine the role it played.
After the accident, the halo and cockpit side of the Sauber showed clear signs of the impact with one of the McLaren's tyres after Alonso was sent flying over Leclerc.
"We've already had a cursory examination of the parts, of course," said Whiting when asked by Motorsport.com what role the halo played.
"A little early to say. The high-speed camera won't tell us a lot, the onboard camera that we've seen so far is not particularly clear.
"But I think what is clear is the significant tyre marks on both the chassis and the halo.
"I think it would be a little bit speculative but I think you can see that it doesn't take much imagination to think that the tyre marks could have actually been on Charles's head. It would be a bit of a miracle if they weren't, had the halo not been there, you know.
"There's a huge extent of the tyre marks, as you've all seen, for sure, so it doesn't take a lot of imagination to think that probably would have made contact with his head. But that is slightly speculative."
Whiting says that the incident will provide the FIA with some useful data, in much the same way as a similar one involving F2 driver Tadasuke Makino in Barcelona.
"Exactly, we went right through that to try and gather as much as we can from it.
"Our researchers have done a fairly detailed report on it, an internal report of course, but all we're trying to do is gather as much, because we're in the process of beginning development on halo 4, so the more information we can get, the better.
"We've taken lots of photographs and our researchers will be contacting Sauber tomorrow morning just to make sure we understand for example when they take the halo off to try and see if the fixings and the bolts that fixed it are all in good shape, and more importantly to see if it's been distorted.
"It's being held in by bolts at present, but we want to see if it springs into a different shape so we can try and learn whatever we can from that. It looks like it's had a fairly hefty whack though."
Tadasuke Makino, RUSSIAN TIME and Nirei Fukuzumi, BWT Arden crash
Photo by: Handout photo
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article McLaren "hasn't progressed at all" in 2018 - Vandoorne
Next article Mercedes: Engine power not our only shortfall
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Adam Cooper
RB: Tsunoda “mentally on a different level” in 2024
Formula 1
Formula 1
Japanese GP
RB: Tsunoda “mentally on a different level” in 2024
Andretti planning F2 and F3 entries to promote US talent to F1 team
Formula 1
Formula 1
Andretti planning F2 and F3 entries to promote US talent to F1 team
Andretti F1 team formally opens new Silverstone facility
Formula 1
Formula 1
Andretti F1 team formally opens new Silverstone facility
Latest news
The ten closest finishes from the 2026 NASCAR season
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup 13 min
The ten closest finishes from the 2026 NASCAR season
BMW "proud of what we achieved" after securing runner-up in 2026 WEC
WEC
WEC WEC
Monza
2 h
BMW "proud of what we achieved" after securing runner-up in 2026 WEC
The numbers that reveal how sprint races have turned the MotoGP title fight upside down
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Qatar GP
4 h
The numbers that reveal how sprint races have turned the MotoGP title fight upside down
2027 Formula E drivers and teams: The line-up so far
Formula E
FE Formula E 6 h
2027 Formula E drivers and teams: The line-up so far
Feature
Discover prime content
Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s
Formula 1
By Kevin Turner
Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe