Nico Rosberg escaped unscathed but the bird was not so lucky, after a 200kph collision in Bahrain during Friday practice.
Bild newspaper reports that the Shanghai winner, and Friday afternoon's fastest in the island Kingdom, came to blows with a wayward feathered-friend as Rosberg's Mercedes circulated the Sakhir circuit.
Video and photo footage depicted the 26-year-old German driver returning to the pits with bloodied feathers stuck in his visor.
"I thought, God, what's that?!" Rosberg told the newspaper. "It was a violent impact, pushing my head right back. The bird exploded on the helmet, but nothing else happened," he said.
In 1960, British F1 driver Alan Stacey died at Spa-Francorchamps, after a bird smashed through his visor. Rosberg wears a state-of-the-art EUR 12,000 Schuberth helmet.
Bird hits Rosberg's helmet in Bahrain practice
- Published on 21 Apr 2012 12:22
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- By: Danny Sosef
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Driver profile
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- Country DE
- Date of b. Jun 27 1985 (40)
- Place of b. Wiesbaden, DE
- Weight 71 kg
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