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

[el chasco]

At Monaco, the round following Imola, Karl Vendlinger had a hefty shunt which resulted in head injuries serious enough to require him being put into an induced Coma, despite the Sauber having quite substantial side head protection built in from day one.
The following season at the Australian GP Mika Hakkinen suffered a similar side to side head injury with almost as severe consequences.
Neither would have been protected by the Halo.
Just picking a couple if incidents at random: Jeff Krosnof (?) and Greg Moore were killed in CART rounds and the Halo would not have saved them.
Le Mans 1995???
Bloody ridiculous comparison.

Le Mans 1995?

 

[RichardHessels]

With all these modern hightech materials and designs, Would it not been possible to ditch the middle bar? As it's used for deflecting large highspeed frontal objects, could be possible to not have one at all.

 

[Rui Santos]

F1 was already dead, now without pit girls and this stupid halo is definitely buried...

 

[aduo]

to be fair F1 cars are not just ugly , which they are indeed , but they all look the same . If we paint all of them in the same color then it will be difficult to realize who's who . This thanks to all the rules and regulations starting more then 10 years ago . there is only one way to save F1 and it is to go back to the basics and change the direction of the research . F1 cars must go fast , that's all . they have to be the fastest not the more advanced in fuel consumption or other bullsXXXs . If I buy a Ferrari or a Mercedes it's because I want to buy a fast amazing and beautifull car , I won't buy a supercar which makes no noise !!! a 12 cylinder engine should be the basic of the F1 and then all the rest should be build around it . the golden era of the F1 was from 70s to 90s , when every car was a surprise was unique , someone maybe still remember the start of the season when every team had something different from the others , some trick some strange and sophisticated wing or some crazy aero concept . now it's boring and bad looking , who wants to watch a race where no surprises allowed ? there are many other motorsports better than this .

 

[antonn]

a disturbed field of vision detracts from concentration

 

[Rui Santos]

That's why MotoGP is the best competition you can find nowadays, where the rider still makes a difference and no very complicated rules to ruin the sport! Oh, and they still have grid girls

 

[wombat999]

Le Mans 1995?

Keyboard fumble.
How about 1955?
Absolutely nothing to do with the subject under discussion.

 

[TylerDurden4321]

Say what you will about how it looks, how interferes with driver vision and how overprotective racing has become... looking at this shlt is seriously cool:

 

[JackCY]

F1 was already dead, now without pit girls and this stupid halo is definitely buried...

Definitely. Dead to me as well for quite some time and it seems to be getting only worse due it's money grabbing and safety kills fun approach.
If their goal is safety of drivers why don't they just make them remote controlled electric all wheel drive vehicles and be done with it, they are definitely headed there sooner or later.
Why was older F1 and rally so attractive? Because it was insanely fast and dangerous. The sport has become over regulated to a dull show.

 

[Kjell Eilertsen]

I don't mind how it looks, people are just being whiney about it as usual when there's change. But that having been said I'm with those who are sceptical towards its usefulness vs something like the indycar shield. It seems like a kneejerk reaction with too little testing and thought having been put into it. Did they seriously test out one version of the shield/screen with one driver at one occasion (and even one of the whiniest drivers on the grid at that), and then deem it unviable? That's what it looked like to me at least...

Edit: For clarity, I realise they have done impact testing that I haven't seen, but last season there was much talk about how Vettel found it having too much an impact on visibility.

 

[Kjell Eilertsen]

Oh and to those who stop watching because of the halo and no grid girls.... good riddance...

 

[dud]

Say what you will about how it looks, how interferes with driver vision and how overprotective racing has become... looking at this shlt is seriously cool:

Woah. That thing is a lot more flexible and energy-absorbing that I thought. I also missed that the rear mount is supposed to traverse backwards on impact? Definitely not just carbon fiber in epoxy.

On the other hand, there is no way that this units would have saved Bianchi, which had the entire car as a load at around the same speed.

 

[BeliacosGR]

Its UGLY. Its NOT how a F1 car looks. Drives already told about issues with view... F1 and every ather motorsport has the thrill of a risk (not in the way to kill people obviously). I cant say to my self that this year he may will not see the Champioship cause... ahh... They ruin the sport. Period G.B.

 

[hal4000]

That's why MotoGP is the best competition you can find nowadays, where the rider still makes a difference and no very complicated rules to ruin the sport! Oh, and they still have grid girls

I wouldn't get my hopes up too high if I were you. Coming soon to a track near you...

 

[Esploratore]

In case of fire I'd like to see that motogp driver get out!

Same goes for f1 halo, though a little easier. I find the halo ugly and basically useless, the little protection it gives is more than made up by the reduced visibility which means a driver could end up doing less to prevent a dangerous accident, like turning or braking half a sec later than he would with perfect visibility and in case of car upside down + fire it makes it harder to get out.

The fact it wouldn't have saved past drivers like senna, bianchi or wouldn't have made stuff any better for lauda is a demonstration, if it doesn't help with past accidents, chances are it won't help for future ones either.

 

[wombat999]

Way OT I know but ..........
Real racing returns and I'm heading to it at Phillip Island starting Friday!
No HALO, no .

 

[dud]

With all these modern hightech materials and designs, Would it not been possible to ditch the middle bar? As it's used for deflecting large highspeed frontal objects, could be possible to not have one at all.

A bow without a front anchor would then be much more effective in a Bianchi scenario with an impact right from the front. But another car going airborne and then landing on the drive cell of your car the lack of the front anchor would hurt.

Carbon Fiber composites are only "indirectly" strong against bending. The Carbon Fibers themselves are floppy in every respect, except against pulling lengthwise. You then put them into bonded plastic (e.g. Epoxy) so that a bending force on your complete part turns into trying to lengthen some of the fibers. That's why you can have rollcage like constructions from CF. But with a simple bow like you describe you would simply find angles against which the construction is vulnerable.

 

[jonelsorel]

There is no vehicle I can think of in this world today that is INTENTIONALLY built with something blocking the driver's field of view. No 100 ton quarry truck, no bus, no road car, no speedboat, no airplane. Having this in race cars that go 350 km/h while calling it "protection" is marginally insane and will eventually bring the trouble it's asking for. The only thing the halo can realistically protect the driver from is a rogue wheel flying off another car, not against small debris or parts, like the spring Massa took. It would be interesting to see how many drivers in the history of open wheel single seater motorsport were ever hurt by that, apart from Henry Surtees.

 

[TheMaroon47]

Bad in the sense that it's not aerodynamic and limits the driver's visibility. Also pretty ugly. Good in the sense that it *might* protect the driver from certain objects that happen to be propelled at great speed towards his head.

 

[RichardHessels]

A bow without a front anchor would then be much more effective in a Bianchi scenario with an impact right from the front. But another car going airborne and then landing on the drive cell of your car the lack of the front anchor would hurt.

Carbon Fiber composites are only "indirectly" strong against bending. The Carbon Fibers themselves are floppy in every respect, except against pulling lengthwise. You then put them into bonded plastic (e.g. Epoxy) so that a bending force on your complete part turns into trying to lengthen some of the fibers. That's why you can have rollcage like constructions from CF. But with a simple bow like you describe you would simply find angles against which the construction is vulnerable.

The halo is not from carbonfiber at all. It's 15 kilo titanium tubes. Teams can make a shell around it for better aerodynamic properties. So the halo system should be better integrated in the design making it strong enough to withstand those "extremely rare" forces. Bianchi would not have been saved with the halo, because of extreme G-forces from the impact his brain had severe injuries. His head never touched that truck he smashed in to. But the soft tissue of his brain got ripped apart. (may he rest in peace).