5 Worst F1 crashes in the hybrid era

#2 Turn 1 crash, Belgium 2018

Alonso's McLaren was once again a wreck in Belgium two years later.

The Halo was a controversial addition to the Formula 1 regulations ahead of the 2018 season, but this crash changed a lot of fans' opinions. While Magnussen showed the danger of Spa's high speed, the first corner of the famous Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps is no stranger to large pile-ups. La Source has seen spectacular incidents in both 1998 and 2012, but this was perhaps the worst. Turn 1 is a tight hairpin, which means that it's inevitable that collisions somewhere in the field will occur, but nobody saw what happened last year coming.

Going into the first corner, Nico Hulkenberg locked up both his front wheels - possibly due to a brake failure - and slammed into the back of Fernando Alonso's McLaren. Alonso's car spun around, collected the rear of Charles Leclerc's Sauber, and got airborne. Fernando's car came down on top of Leclerc's, in an incident that resulted in those three cars retiring immediately, plus both Kimi Raikkonen and Daniel Ricciardo later.

If Leclerc's Sauber hadn't had a Halo on it, Alonso's McLaren would've almost certainly made impact with the youngster's helmet. If that would've happened, the consequences don't bare thinking about. The Halo had a lot of doubters before the Belgian GP last year, it had little to none after it, as it probably saved one of the biggest prospects in motorsport's life.