Terrifying Lewis Hamilton footage emerges as debris flies at his head | F1 | Sport


Footage from Saturday’s sprint race at the United States Grand Prix shows the moment Lewis Hamilton was saved by his car’s halo following a crash at Turn 1. The flying debris was heading straight towards Hamilton, with the on-board camera showing the SF-25’s Halo deflecting it over his head.

Hamilton had started the sprint in eighth at the Circuit of the Americas, with Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri, Nico Hulkenberg and Fernando Alonso all lining up in front. Piastri and Hulkenberg came into contact, leading to further involvement from Alonso’s car, with the championship leader also touching his team-mate Lando Norris.

It forced both McLarens into the pit, alongside Alonso, with the trio forced to retire. The incident bumped Hamilton up to fourth, but things could’ve been much worse for the Brit if it wasn’t for the fortunate deflection.

Speaking to Sky Sports F1 after the crash, he explained: “I managed to avoid the drama at Turn 1, just. I didn’t position my car particularly well. I saw Alonso on the inside so I went a bit to the right and left the door open to Charles. Lots of improvement is still to be made. Otherwise the start was good.”

The McLaren pair were unhappy after crashing out, with Piastri saying: “Not ideal but I haven’t seen what happened, I tried to cut back on Lando and we were both very far from the apex and then got a hit and it sent me into Lando. A shame.”

While Norris added: “I just got hit, right? I did nothing wrong. Further back things happened and I just got unlucky and got hit because of it. I don’t know. I need to look a bit more carefully. It’s more people further back just being a bit careless and we are the consequence of that.”

Hamilton will start fifth on the grid in Texas, with the seven-time champion still in the hunt for his first Grand Prix victory in Ferrari red. When quizzed about Ferrari’s weekend so far, he said: “For us [he and Charles Leclerc] to be third and fifth I think it’s a real step forward.

“This is the closest I’ve been [to a podium] in God knows how long. It’s taken me forever, it’s not from lack of trying. I’m going to give it absolutely everything to try and get there tomorrow… My goal is to win tomorrow.”



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