HALO [charles leclerc]

interview

Interview with Lily Bianco and talks about the halo.

"Go on, introduce yourself!"

"Hi, My name is Lily Bianco. I'm a semi professional, i would say, skater."

"First off Lily, can I just add how wonderful it is to have you back in the racing world. We missed seeing your face here."

"Thank you Thank you. I've gotta say it's a long time coming to be fair. My dad practically forced me to come here."

"Ah yes we actually bought you on here for a specific reason." the interviewer started. "As many of you know from the recent articles, Lily was actually the one who had came up with the idea and concept of the halo so we thought it would be interesting to see the whole story behind the whole creation. So for our first question i wanted to ask, Why? What was the reasoning behind your idea."

"Well i think it's quite known what could've potentially stemmed the idea into my head, but I lost two amazing people who meant the absolute world to me. There wasn't a clear concept but all i knew was that I didn't want to lose anyone else again. I guess that was really just my thought process behind it all but the idea just came on later on. I was quite young so I didn't really know what could be achieved."

"Ah yes, you were only 13 sadly. Is it okay to ask how it felt for you as a child? Especially when you had to witness it yourself."

"Well to put it quite literally, it felt like hell. Like my world was ending. When I was told about death by anyone it was always the concept of an easy painless death and, although i couldn't understand it myself, I just knew that it wasn't going to leave the person in complete agony and I guess I was okay with that to some extent. So having to watch my dad's car get sent in a spiral towards the side of the track and set ablaze was absolutely gut wrenching. For me in that moment, everything stopped, all I could do was stare at the screen. All i could remember was how everyone around me kept screaming and running around trying to get some answers on his injuries and safety but all i could think about was how my dad, the man who meant the world to me, someone i saw as a superhero and indestructible, was so easily slammed into the side of a wall and taken away from me. It just wasn't fair you know, how everyone else was okay and moved on but I was stuck here with his death replaying in my head. It's worse when you know it could happen to everyone else you love."

"We are soo sorry to hear that. It's soo unfortunate having to lose someone soo close to you. From our understanding you created the idea and presented it to Toto Wolff and the Mercedes racing team in 2015, 2 months after your father's death? Was it the first idea you came up with or were there many? "

"Well the idea came about a month after my father's death. I remember staying up all night watching old races and seeing how the crashes impacted on the driver and everything else. To start, I placed it into reality, looking at the actual circuit but barriers were already made and in many of the crashes, it was the car and driver which affected it the most. So i had to move onto the driver and car. From there i came up with some prototype suits, ones where there were helmets with more shielding and, if i remember correctly, some suits with more protection from impact but the tougher the suit the more weight it began adding so I had a thought of the car itself seeing as that's what teams like to focus on reducing weight on and it was easier to work with metals then fabric materials. I finally came up with the idea of the halo but had a play on different metals and styles. There was one with the arches coming down on the sides of the car but having placed myself in the situation it wouldn't have worked as it would be harder to see opponents or the actual circuits on the sides so i made it in the front and sent it off to Toto to look at. He was a bit iffy about it as it was still annoying the driver but I still held hope out and kinda played with different metals and landed on titanium as it was the lightest but toughest material that was easy to obtain and i guess that was that. I wasn't sure when but Toto sent it off and it got reviewed and well that was that."

"That's really interesting. It amazes me how at 13 you are able to actually create such a change. A lot of fans have been asking why your part in the invention was kept silent. Why was that?"

"I was scared of failure. I still am but back then I was already going through a lot and if this didn't work out, i wouldn't have wanted it to be known either. Toto warned me of what everyone would think of it and I didn't want to be attacked for it so I kept silent but begged him to put it through just in case it did work out. When it did I was super emotional but I still knew how everyone felt and so it put me off of having to publicise it and by the time everyone accepted it, it was too late and I wanted to move on really. To me, it wasn't important who made it but the fact that racing became much more safer which felt like a breath of fresh air so I let Mercedes take the lead on that."

"I'm getting emotional just hearing it, but I think a lot of people have you to thank for bringing in the idea. We know Toto has already talked about the name and his take on it being 'the halo' due to its protecting the drivers from becoming angels and i'm assuming you think the same, so I wont question you on that since sadly our times coming to an end on the interview but are there any last words you wanted to add? Maybe for Toto or anyone?"

"I guess i just want to thank Toto for believing in me even though i was just a kid. I think a part of me thought he would laugh in my face, call it a delusional plan and take it as a joke due to my circumstances and age so having him actually try putting it forward no matter how negative he felt towards it was something i have gratitude for. It meant and still means the world to me knowing he took me seriously because at the time it felt like no one did. I've got to give him all the appreciation because It wouldn't have made it far if it wasn't for him."

"That's amazing. Thank you for coming on, i know how tough of a conversation this can be but I think spreading this knowledge is highly influential in a world like racing. Ill be seeing you on the grid soon I hear."

"Ah yes the rumours are true, i'll see you there. Bye everyone!"

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It's 7:47am and I haven't even slept yet so this must be such a horrid chapter (it was i might acc delete when i reedit).