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

[Eddie Ellis]

There is no way to make anything that is transparent and nearly as strong as a carbon fiber composite cage. And I'm saying a factor of 10 if not much more. While I have my doubts that the CF halo would have saved Bianchi, those are doubts. There isn't a way that the windshield would have made a difference, except add sharp debris in motion.

Plus, I don't think windshields mix with a lack of wipers.

Plus, the windshield seriously impedes access to the driver in an overturned car. More than the halo. Not that either are good.

The aircraft industry has a good safety rating with canopies. It's a very common thing for aircraft to hit geese at 400 kph during landings and takeoffs. When was the last time you heard about an F18 or F16 pilot dying from this? How many group C racers have died from debris in the cockpit? As for wipers in the rain, I've raced motorcycles in the rain and I use a spray called Plexus that makes the water bead and roll off. The vision is as good as a street car using wipers. There is a similar product for glass called Rain-X.

 

[RichardHessels]

The only formula car crashes where would have helped the last 30 years were lower classes. For F1 I can't recall any accident that would have made a difference.

 

[Zuffenhausen Weiss]

And these two quotes sum up why F1 is boring and will never be interesting again.
Just enjoy a few seconds of this and you´ll be convinced:

It gives so much more excitement, because it it absolutely dangerous. I only just realized that. Wow.

Anyway modern F1 is what it is. Our hype and adrenaline is pushed by fancy car-presentations and more and more media clips (and threads) around the actual race.

If only it was the case then, Arrow and Ensign was proven to be faster than Ferrari (if they ever show up), Williams and Brabham; not forgetting the presence of Judy Lyons who proves that an F2 is quicker than an F1 car (you'll remember who she is if you spectate at these races)

 

[Vapir]

Doesn't go far enough to significantly reduce the odds of major head injury in its current design form.
Finish it by closing out those massive openings with some type of deflector screen or get it off the car and do something else to better protect drivers.
The Indy car screen offers much better head protection because of its profile relative to the driver's helmet and in its ability to deflect not just large, but small objects.... and quite frankly, looks much, much better.

100% on point.

 

[ronald kasteel]

As a driver i would prefer something like shield. When i think about protection i have the Massa crash in mind, i dont think that halo can hold of a small piece like a spring.

could have been worse whit the massa accident it could have driven in to his chest on the rebound of that big ugly bastard that goes by the name HALO

 

[DaVeX↯]

If Napoleon was able to defeat Russia we will be all french...

 

[snyperal]

https://goo.gl/images/vgqtX8

 

[Nick Milton]

When I was a kid, going to brands watching F1 cars either at race of champions or GP, or many times at Goodyear tyres testing days. ( yep all day watching F1 teams up close ,no crouds, for free) I can't get out my mind th pure speed and thrill F 1 had, they were glamorous superstars , paid well, its was called danger money, now I still love F 1, it's still glamorous, it's still fast, but something's missing, I going to be controversial, coz I am, but drivers seem more interested in Hair dryers and make up, some I don't think know if they're Arthur or Martha, seems to be some males are confused these days,

Any way, Halo is ugly in my eyes, I don't like it, and I think they're paid enough to take a risk.
Niki Lauda famously called F1 a blood sport, take the money, then take the risk,

 

[Nick Milton]

If Napoleon was able to defeat Russia we will be all french...

But Wellington beat them both and were not all English?

 

[DaVeX↯]

But Wellington beat them both and were not all English?

We are all speaking eng here now

 

[Nick Milton]

We are all speaking eng here now

Lol. Sort of

 

[Joeks]

Pffft..After over 60 years of evolution, why don't they just use an a Jet-Fighter canopy??..super save, looking much better..this is just ugly like hell, lookes like it came with a handle

 

[Joeks]

The Halo device partially blocks the driver's vision. A driver might take a fraction of a second longer than before to see a slow or crashed car that is directly in front of them. In cars that can reach 200 mph and cover large distances very quickly, this is no small matter.

It doesn't protect the driver. Anything smaller than a tyre can still get through.

It's ugly.

Indycar seem to have a much safer, more practical and elegant solution.

The aeronautical industry seemed to have solved this problem a few decades ago.

Winner!

 

[el chasco]

Too safe. Why not return to these cars or circuits? These were true heroes.View attachment 236337

We need that.

You are a ****ing race driver.

If you want to stay safely, be an engineer

 

[GMcA_74]

Not the F1 I used to know & love and tbh it hasn't been for at least the past five years, a gradual decline, both in viewing and in enjoyment.

I had hoped that with the exit of wee Bernie things might have taken a turn for the better...

Hope springs eternal.

 

[Neilski]

Mmm, yeah. I knew there was something very wrong when I realised that I preferred the races with highlights-only coverage...

 

[Alfa90_Buttje]

stupid question when it is so obviously U G L Y !!!

 

[FJBH10]

Not against head-protection in motorsport at all but the Halo is a knee-jerk reaction, hope to see an Indycar-style screen later on. Also on that subject Aeroscreen got dropped way too early if you ask me, one test where the angle of the screen could have been changed, thickness of material changed etc. Hard to do but not impossible but nope... FIA see one fault and straight to the halo! (And it's own faults)

 

[Grand Tourist]

Not against head-protection in motorsport at all but the Halo is a knee-jerk reaction, hope to see an Indycar-style screen later on. Also on that subject Aeroscreen got dropped way too early if you ask me, one test where the angle of the screen could have been changed, thickness of material changed etc. Hard to do but not impossible but nope... FIA see one fault and straight to the halo! (And it's own faults)

I agree, there's sth more going on with that HALO business....being pushed forward by FIA like the only right solution out there.

I look at that HALO-car and can't stop thinking that must be the fastest flip-flop on the planet. Maybe there's a giant flip-flop company behind all this, who knows?

At least they got 1 thing right in F1 now, everybody's talking about it ...only drawback is many people will stop watching it

It's horse **** and everybody knows it.

 

[wombat999]

No, Senna was pierced through the helmet's visor. The halo would not have helped.

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 1955???
Bloody ridiculous comparison.