Halo played a role in protecting Charles Leclerc in the huge crash at the start of today’s Belgian Grand Prix but it’s too soon to say how significant it was, according to FIA race director Charlie Whiting.

Leclerc’s Halo bore visible marks of contact from Fernando Alonso’s McLaren, which went over the top of the Sauber at the start of the race.

Whiting said “it would be a little bit speculative” to say at this stage that Halo the, which was introduced this year, saved Leclerc from serious injury.

“But it doesn’t take much imagination to think that the tyre marks could have actually been on Charles’s head [helmet]. It would be a bit of a miracle if they weren’t had the Halo not been there. There’s a huge extent of the tyre marks.”

Some were quick to praise the role Halo played including retired 2016 world championship Nico Rosberg, who posted on social media: “We can end the Halo discussion now. It will save lives!”

Fellow former F1 driver Max Chilton, who survived a near-miss with a tyre during the 2014 British Grand Prix, wrote: “And people still think race cars shouldn’t have them. We could have lost another fantastic talent today without it.”

The FIA will take a close look at how Leclerc’s Halo stood up to the impact to see what can be learned from the crash.

“We’ve had a cursory examination of the parts,” said Whiting. “It’s a little early to say. The high-speed camera won’t tell us an awful lot. The onboard camera that we’ve seen so far is not particularly clear.

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“What is clear is the significant tyre marks on both the chassis and the Halo. We take 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, try and see if the ficxing and the bolts that fix it are in good shape.

“And, more importantly, to see if it’s been distorted. It’s being held in by the bolts at present, but see if it springs into a different shape and we can try and learn whatever we can from that. But it looks like it had a pretty hefty whack.”

This is not the first time a Halo has been damaged since it was introduced. Formula Two driver Tadasuke Makino was involved in a crash where rival Nirei Fukuzumi’s car hit his Halo.

“Our researchers have done a fairly detailed internal report on [that],” said Whiting. “All we can try to do is to gather as much information as we can, of course. Which helps us as we’re in the process of beginning development of Halo Four, so the more we can get, the better.”

In response to a questions from RaceFans, Whiting also confirmed the FIA will shares its findings with IndyCar, which is looking into introducing a similar kind of cockpit protection in the wake of crashes such as Robert Wickens’ at Pocono last weekend.

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2018 F1 season