Lewis Hamilton 'saved by miracle' after dramatic F1 crash

United States Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton 'saved by miracle' after dramatic F1 crash

A dramatic lap one crash took place during Saturday's sprint race in Austin

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Sunday 19 October 2025 17:58

Lewis Hamilton avoided a nasty incident during the sprint race at the US Grand Prix where his F1 rivals were involved in a lap one crash.

A safety car was deployed on lap one after a first corner crash, involving both of the McLarens, Nico Hulkenberg and Fernando Alonso.

Oscar Piastri attempted an overtake on his team-mate Lando Norris, only for the Aussie to abort the move and then made contact with the front wing of Hulkenberg’s Sauber, causing both McLarens to spin and damage to both Aston Martin cars.

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Elsewhere, Hamilton managed to overtake team-mate Charles Leclerc for fourth, but the seven-time world champion was almost caught out in the chaos of lap one.

Near miss for Hamilton during lap one revealed

Following the sprint race in Austin, stills emerged of the lap one incident from Hamilton’s point of view on social media, with the Ferrari behind the spinning McLarens.

A large piece of debris was pictured flying in Hamilton’s direction in one still, which then landed on his halo safety device above his cockpit and flew behind the champion.

In the caption of the social media post, the user remarked on how lucky Hamilton was, and if the halo had not been installed on the car, how dangerous it could have been.

“It was a miracle that Lewis Hamilton was saved by the halo because the piece of the car could have done him serious damage,” they wrote.

As for qualifying, Hamilton set the fifth fastest time for Sunday’s grand prix and revealed Ferrari had made changes for Austin, after he promised talks in the background with his team last time out.

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