Technical Can we talk about the Halo?

F1's Halo Device?


  • Total voters
    40

ATL11

Pole Sitter
So we've seen in Barca testing, the first pictures of the Halo version 1.

Now I know the key to this device is the safety of the driver's head!

So after the initial pictures emerged, the media came out with everything positive about this device. But now after Kimi's testing, see below (thanks Getty), even some of the F1 drivers are saying the design needs to be reviewed due to vision & aesthetics.

But this has me thinking, looking at the Halo & we know that Red Bull may test another safety device in April, which is rumored to look like a cut down Fighter Jet canopy. How does F1 balance safety vs aesthetics?

I must admit myself, first impressions is it looks quirky & I understand why it is there, but a few questions:

  • Would this device have saved Henry Surtees, as from the video of the crash, the wheel fell on top of Henry's head, so is the opening at the top of the Halo narrower than both 2017 wheel specs?
  • Again, would this device have assisted Massa in Hungary? That part hit him at an angle that may have sneaked in between the nose and the top Halo strut, if not deflected! The horizontal Halo strut is above the helmet, so logic a projectile as in the Massa incident, would still strike a driver.
  • Vision, real concern about this, sorry but how is a strut right in front a drivers sight not going to affect their vision? Typically a driver will be looking yards ahead of themselves, what is the displacement of vision say 20 yards ahead, how much of the tarmac will they not be able to see, a flashing rear light in rain, as an example?
  • Driver Evacuation with a back injury, how do they remove a driver safely from the car who may have a back injury, with this added obstacle?
  • Rain, how will the rain deflected by the Halo at 180mph behave in the cockpit, we've seen vortices on rear wings, could the driver have their view further obstructed by Halo vortices?
  • Major crash with a roll, how does the Halo interact with the established roll structure of the air vent above the drivers head? Also dig affect on grass, how will a Halo behave if as part of the crash it ploughs into Grass, will it become in effect a cheese grater? Then as above, extractiion, how from an upside down car.
  • Last but not least, is aesthetics! F1 is going through a tough time at present, less fans, traditional tracks disappearing, dull races, years of 1 team domination & multiple rule changes (3 Qualifying rule changes this week alone). Can it afford for the cars to look like this from next season?
Your thoughts?

_88576740_kimiraikkonenhalo2_getty.jpg
 
It's not offering full protection for the driver against various accident types, and it's hideous. I really don't see the point.
If they want the driver protected they need a fully enclosed cockpit with a fighter jet / lemans type roof. What ever they do it has got to be sexy. People should watch the cars and think wow thats amazing, what a great car. Not pass the sick bag.
 
It will save a life every now and again, however there will be other tail-gates, springs, JCB Weights and stupid things waiting to be encountered in new and unimaginable ways and lives will be lost, brains mashed. Motorsport is dangerous, I see no reason why it should be fugly as well.
 
The whole point of drivers being paid ludicrous amounts of money for doing something they love doing and I would do for nothing, is that it is dangerous.

And don't get me started on football. :clip:
 
Last edited:
I honestly hope that everybody just wants to be seen as trying to advance safety further by trialing this Halo device and then quietly resigns it to the storage closet. It's one thing if would definitely work, but nobody really knows what would happen in real life.

Thing is nearly ridiculous as the Eifelland rear view mirror

eifel.jpg
 
In order to get feedback on the visiabilty of the Halo they put it on the car of the most articulate racing driver in F1, Kimi Raikkonen, and he said it was, and I quote, 'OK'.

This is however coming from a man who raced out of the pitlane after being blinded by a spray of petrol so I guess compared to that visibility with the Halo was great.

To be fair to Kimi though he is better at spotting red lights at the end of pitlanes that last year's top two in the championship ;)
 
Well with no visibility courtesy of the halo, and the new chaotic qualifying, courtesy of the mad men at the top, it looks like it may be a very interesting start.
:disappointed:
 
Can there be a poll option for Not Necessary? I'm not necessarily an "F1 is open canopy and it needs to stay that way" purist, I just think this halo is a bit of an overreaction to freak incidents it wouldn't have prevented.
 
"You can see what you need to see. We can improve it aesthetically and in terms of how much is in your way. We will see evolutions. In principle, it doesn’t look very good but if it helps save lives then there would be at least two drivers in the last four years who would be still around – Henry Surtees and Justin Wilson. Nothing justifies not having these two guys around any more." - Seb Vettel after trying it out today.

I don't think it looks great, but it could be worse. We can never be fully safe and will never be able to prevent every injury and death. However, preventing one death is worth it. At least with this solution the series remains open cockpit.
 
FB, I'm sure I have read somewhere (not sure where) the final product will be steel, a the Ferrari was just a mock up. Not that is the point.

I believe the trauma to Bianchi's head injury was due to rapid deceleration, caused by the head on collision of the tractor unit and actually being lifted by the F1 car. It could be possible that the proposed design might help deflect the car of to one side or another, and possibly slow the rate of deceleration, in similar situations. More likely, no solution would have protected him in that situation.

I believe the FIA tried 3 main designs for testing head protection, by firing a wheel and tyre at the proposed designs with the halo coming out top. If I remember rightly there was the Halo, a full(fighter jet) canopy design, and a three bar design that came down from the air box.
 
Last edited:
Also it will severely obstruct visibility on tracks with elevation like COTA. I think they should have just gone for a proper fighter jet style synthetic glass canopy.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom