Have Your Say: Formula One 'Halo' - Good, Bad or Just Ugly?

[Racer67]

I have been watching F1 for some 35 years now. Never did I ever question the reasoning for safety for drivers and the changes they made until now with the halo. Formula One cars are open cockpit and 4 open wheels. That is what defines them. If you don't believe it is safe to do that anymore then formula one should pack up and close its doors.

A large part of the appeal of F1 is the extreme performance, beauty, and sound of the cars. The halo is so disruptive to the essence of what I believe a F1 car to be that I may have to retire from watching anymore.

The halo does not protect the driver from the very thing it is claimed to be for - small flying debris. As others have said here in these forums, I can't think one situation in the last 35 years where this device would have really helped anyone.

Horrible fluke accidents do happen. Sometimes when we do amazing things with passion there is a cost for that. Thousands of planes circle the globe everyday and we accept the risk of failure for the ability to travel quickly around the world. Yet planes crash and kill people even with all the safety and control that we have.

I wonder if F1 is so obsessed with never having any possibility of anyone dying or being injured is that really being realistic? Halo or no halo..

In a roll over has it been proven that a driver can escape in case of a fire? My fear is that this safety device is going to fail in some way that is really going to hurt someone by obscuring their vision when milliseconds count, or trap them in some way so they cannot escape.

 

[gamer19]

In a roll over has it been proven that a driver can escape in case of a fire? My fear is that this safety device is going to fail in some way that is really going to hurt someone by obscuring their vision when milliseconds count, or trap them in some way so they cannot escape.

For the record, I've said that before you. Some 30 seconds earlier.
But seems like we're wasting our time here (as usual) a prominent F1 driver has spoken:
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/halo-didnt-hinder-bottas-in-race-distance-run-1005893/

 

[FernandoAFM]

I was listening to a good interview with Justin Wilson's brother (Stefan) some weeks ago and he made some good points.

As a driver he knows what he does is dangerous, that he could be seriously injured or killed doing what he loves, all drivers accept that.

When something goes wrong they want it to be something they can control, if they make a mistake and crash, fair enough...
What the drivers were starting to become concerned about was if a piece of wing, or a tyre, or a piece of metal comes flying at you at 150mph+, there's nothing you can do about it and that's the risk element they want to try and remove.

I don’t like the halo, but I love this quote. The only risks a driver should face are those he can control and understand.

 

[Matheus Machado]

Needed device and extremely strong.
All in for safety F1 cars are good looking when they are fast.

 

[James Robertson]

When I was a little boy my mum had this little plastic toilet seat that she would put over the main toilet seat so it was the right size for me, halo kind of reminds me of that.

 

[ltcars]

Because it makes it hard to see what's in front of you. Notice the driver is leaning for a better view.

 

[Kyle Dunning]

The only opinions that matter are the F1 drivers themselves. Bottas says he was fine .. no other F1 driver has come out so far and said "the cars are undriveable and unsafe". People can flap their gums all they like. They can go in to simulations and point things out .. but unless they are able to physically get in to a real F1 car with a real halo in real competition .. then their opinions mean nothing. Keep crying halo haters .. real F1 fans will keep watching without you.

Also, if anyone has actually read the news about these halos .. they've been put under very extensive, and very strict testing. I'm not going to hold your hand and give you a link .. go research it yourselves. The fact is, getting the halo implemented so it's considered safe is a massive task for all the teams, because the FIA has taken every precaution. It's meant for safety, so every car will be checked, checked, and checked again before and after each race. They wouldn't put the halos on cars if they didn't take these measures.

 

[ltcars]

The only opinions that matter are the F1 drivers themselves. Bottas says he was fine .. no other F1 driver has come out so far and said "the cars are undriveable and unsafe". People can flap their gums all they like. They can go in to simulations and point things out .. but unless they are able to physically get in to a real F1 car with a real halo in real competition .. then their opinions mean nothing. Keep crying halo haters .. real F1 fans will keep watching without you.

Also, if anyone has actually read the news about these halos .. they've been put under very extensive, and very strict testing. I'm not going to hold your hand and give you a link .. go research it yourselves. The fact is, getting the halo implemented so it's considered safe is a massive task for all the teams, because the FIA have taken no precautions. It's meant for safety, so every car will be checked, checked, and checked again before and after each race. They wouldn't put the halos on cars if they didn't take these measures.

If you would have watched the video you would have seen that he comes to the conclusion that the Halo is unseeable thru peripheral view. You see past it

 

[rubaru]

I prefer the screen like what RBR tested. It handled the wheel quite easily and would likely react similar with smaller objects. Before you say anything else like "what about rain," do some research. That solution for adequate coatings has also been under development for a long time, and there are also some advancements in ultrasonic technologies that aren't at all expensive.

 

[Raikku]

Bad and ugly.

 

[Eddie Ellis]

I wonder if they have tested the loss of depth perception with the center strut. I would guess it's as bad as driving with an eye patch on one eye. As sim racers we get used to that a bit, but we also have reset button. I'm all for driver safety and I'll look past an ugly item to keep driver alive, but I don't think this is it.
I can't help but wonder why the support struts aren't integrated into the mirror housings while having the front section cantilevered forward of that and open. If limiting the opening size was the issue, a thin (6 or 7 mm thick) bar could replace the middle strut and blend in with the radio antenna. The view behind the mirror housing is already blocked by the top of the tire, so no loss. For the record, I like the jet canopy idea.

If this shows up in a sim, I will boycott that car, whether it's realistic or not.

 

[ruvicks1]

I just can't believe how quickly they ruled out the visor screen thing. It was at least a bit better looking.

Vettel does 5 mins and say no and that's it. end of test.

I believe they ditched the aero-screen when it failed safety tests that halo passed. Also, I think it was Redbull doing most of the development so once it failed they saw no point in continuing to put their resources into it. Its vision problems I think were minor distortion, compared to the halo blocking out sections of vision, I think it could have been solved. I much preferred the aero-screen too.

 

[apexGBG]

I'm all for the safety of the drivers but the halo is clearly a rushed solution to a rare problem, the main thing that annoys me about it is there was very little testing of other solutions on track.

The shield device tested by Sebastian Vettel last year looked considerably better and would be better still when integrated with the car design, it was ditched because Vettel felt ill while using it but it wasn't further tested to iron out this issue.

The safety of the device could also be better improved, yes it can take the weight of a double decker bus but it is still reasonably open, and an indecent like that of Massa in 2009 could still occur.

Another area the halo affects (although less important to the sport as a whole) is the impact on the official formula 1 games. Will the halo be in the game or will FOM allow the devs to exclude it or include an option to turn it off for cockpit cams? will this give players who choose not to use it an in game advantage?

I hope the FIA have plans in place to test halo replacements this year ready for future seasons, not only to improve the aesthetics of the cars but also to increase/ improve the drivers visibility from within the cockpit. Surely it isn't good for the marketing of the sport?

 

[IMrIMike]

Pointless on F1, and ugly

Just because you think its ugly doesn´t make it pointless, in fact it´s not. Otherwise it wouldn´t be there.

 

[JackD3ath]

It really hurts, but I feel I wont be watching F1 this year. Engines put me to sleep now. No grid girls, which isnt that big of a deal, but I dont want kids up there either. Now this thing, which defeats the point of open cockpit racing.

 

[Kyle Dunning]

Yeah I watched that video of the guy testing halo in VR, and while it's not a true representation, it's pretty much what I expected. You might notice the halo for the first couple of laps, but once you get in the flow it will be like it's not even there. Anyone saying that it's obstructing the drivers view .. can't be drivers themselves. You're always looking down the road, not what's directly in the middle of your view. As the guy in the video said, the mirrors are way more of an obstruction in some corners than the halo. Going up and down hill, he never said anything about any difficulty there either. Bottas has confirmed this in a real-life setting. So the only people saying this, are just saying it because you think it's ugly and that's all there is to it.

 

[Kyle Dunning]

It really hurts, but I feel I wont be watching F1 this year. Engines put me to sleep now. No grid girls, which isnt that big of a deal, but I dont want kids up there either. Now this thing, which defeats the point of open cockpit racing.

No one will miss you. If you're not going to watch because 1) they got rid of the dated, object-like grid girls who were there to stand looking pretty with their fake smiles and boobs, and 2) you hate a safety feature just because it "looks bad", again .. you're one of those people who only cares about how pretty everything looks and sounds, instead of caring about the present and future drivers of the sport. You care more about your visual and audible pleasure, than drivers safety .. and inspiring young kids to become F1 drivers one day. It's truly selfish, and F1 doesn't need "fans" like that.

 

[paracletus]

Long time fan, and will watch every race 2018 F1.
Not that bothered about it anymore, even though it doesn't look great.

 

[Kyle Dunning]

Long time fan, and will watch every race 2018 F1.
Not that bothered about it anymore, even though it doesn't look great.

Once it's all been figured out, we'll see some interesting designs and colours going on these things. They're black for now, or white like on the Williams. But they will change for sure, the teams will do their best to make them look better on the eye. No one will care about the halo in a years time, even more so if it does the job it's intended. And people treat it like it's impossible to get rid of the halos if they don't work properly .. it would be so easy to go back and try a new approach if this one doesn't live up to what they're expecting.

It's not like F1 will always be this way .. the sport evolves over time. The safer the sport, the quicker the cars can go .. don't fans want to see faster cars with no dead drivers? I guess they don't. We could go back to super tire degradation, smaller tires, restrictions placed on everything .. that would really get them watching!

 

[dud]

If you would have watched the video you would have seen that he comes to the conclusion that the Halo is unseeable thru peripheral view. You see past it

The concern some of us have is that some drivers, based on individual differences in eyesight or visual processing, have their depth perception negatively influenced.

That can easily happen without consciously perceiving the structure.