Formula 1 drivers Max Verstappen of the Netherlands and Lewis Hamilton of England — the first- and second-place drivers in the 2021 standings, respectively — were involved in a scary crash at the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday.
On the 26th lap of the race, Verstappen attempted to cut in front of Hamilton on a tight corner. Instead of successfully moving into seventh place in front of Hamilton, however, Verstappen's car lifted off the ground and on top of Hamilton's.
The crash was over in seconds, but Verstappen's vehicle could very well have landed on Lewis' head were it not for the Halo system placed in all F1 cars at the beginning of the 2018 season. It's a curved bar made of titanium placed on the car's cockpit as a protection system for drivers' heads.
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Both drivers walked away from the crash.
VER and HAM crash!!!#ItalianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/EbYDjqwgDa
— ΛB (@_Wolf25_) September 12, 2021
Here's another angle of the crash. Verstappen jumped the curb, causing him to go wheel-to-wheel with Lewis. That caused the former's car to lift off the ground and top of Hamilton. On replay it's evident how well the Halo system worked. Even with it preventing bodily harm to Hamilton, however, he was forced to get as low in his cockpit as possible to avoid Verstappen's rear-right tire.
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A better view of the crash... #ItalianGP #F1 https://t.co/Zvj8RFcRfy pic.twitter.com/aOJc1p6NuX
— ΛB (@_Wolf25_) September 12, 2021
Verstappen, who started second in Sunday's lineup, blamed Hamilton (fourth) for the crash after the fact, saying on the team radio, "That's what you get when you don't leave the space."
That wasn't the first time they made contact, either. On Lap 1 of Sunday's race, Hamilton and Verstappen went wheel-to-wheel at the second chicane after the former ran across the run-off area. Ironically, he complained he had been left no space by Verstappen. The two also crashed at the British Grand Prix on July 18.
Verstappen owns the outright lead in the 2021 standings with 224.5 points, seven wins and 10 trips to the podium. Hamilton, who has five wins and nine top-five finishes at the Italian Grand Prix's Autodromo Nazionale Monza, is in second place with 221.5 points, four wins and 10 podium trips.