Halo of Safety 😇

In Formula One, the safety of the drivers is the number one priority. Over the years, the safety of the F1 drivers has immensely improved. The most recent improvement is the introduction of the halo.

Most of you might be asking yourselves,'What is the halo?', and no, it is not a Beyoncé song.

The halo is a titanium crash protection structure which prevents flying debris from hitting the driver and causing any injury. In a recent Scuderia Ferrari tweet, they mentioned that the halo needs to be able to support 10 tonnes!! Shocking, right!!

If you’ve ever wondered why the halo is in F1, the 2018 Belgium Grand Prix is a prime example. After David Croft (F1's commentator) uttered his signature phrase, "It’s lights out, and away we go!!", a bizarre incident took place. Nico Hulkenberg happened to misjudge his breaking point and rear-ended Fernando Alonso who then, by no fault of his own, punted over Charles Leclerc's Sauber. If you take a look at the footage, you will realise the extent of the damage done, and how vital the halo was in preventing Leclerc from sustaining fatal injuries.

(But halo did not save Romain G's finger from when Kimi R flicked up some gravel due to his off-track antics, so take from that what you will.)

The halo is not very dissimilar to the aero screen that has been in Indycar. A fun fact is that the aero screen also uses similar fame work when compared to the halo.

A prime example of the halo reducing the driver's visibility is in the 2019 Monza GP, when Sebastian Vettel punted into the side of Lance Stroll’s racing point after he spun off the track. Most people thought that what Vettel did was careless and what he did was a rookie mistake. If you take a look at the footage, you can see that Vettel actually turns his head multiple times to look if there is no traffic but was unable to do so because of the halo. Yes he could look at the marshall post, or wait for some kind of message from the team, but that's beside the point. This was just the lowest point of a bad weekend for him. I am sure punting into Lance Stroll’s car did not sit well with his dad and future boss, Lawrence Stroll (Lance Strolls’ dad).

Formula one is all about the fans!! And thus the most important reaction of all is the reaction of the fans !! They in fact liked the halo as much as they did the 2014 F1 car, which is probably the most hated F1 car since F1 first started.

F1 race car F1 race car

At the start of the 2018 FIA F1 season, the fans were always sceptical of the introduction of the Halo and rued about how it ruined the aesthetics of the F1 car. But the incident that took place at the Belgium Grand Prix influenced the opinion of the fans, and if I am not wrong, forced fans to start liking it.

I would like to conclude by saying that nothing comes for free. All the improvements require some trade off and slightly lower visibility is the cost that has been paid to enhance safety, and in this case it is worth it.

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