FIA persuading drivers to back ‘halo’

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In the round-up: The FIA has attempted to convince drivers of the safety benefits of the ‘halo’ device which it plans to introduce next year.

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Wider F1 cars should be faster next year
Despite the significant lap time improvements seen at some tracks this year, Nase believes yet more will be found when the aerodynamic restrictions are loosened next year:

I don’t think so. The 2016 generation of cars is extracting astonishing levels of performance from a formula with drastic restrictions on downforce. Those cars are blindingly fast on the straights, much faster than they need to be to set fast lap times (when comparing different car generations), no matter how much downforce the teams try to create. Performance-wise, the current formula is deliberately quite far from well-balanced cars. By allowing much higher levels of downforce and rear grip, F1 is guaranteed to win at least a couple of seconds per lap on virtually every circuit.

The 2017 cars will be significantly slower on the straights (which I think is a bit of a shame), but you can very easily compensate a 20 kph deficit in peak velocity (which would add up to a few tenths per lap) with a slightly increased cornering speed, which is the area in which the current cars are the least efficient.
Nase

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On this day in F1

Sergio Perez was fortunate to escape uninjured following a bizarre incident with Sebastian Saavedra at the Norisring in Germany ten years ago today, in which his Colombian rival deliberately drove up the nose of his car following a collision between the pair. A video of the incident is here:

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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30 comments on “FIA persuading drivers to back ‘halo’”

  1. Stuart Codling you make me want to puke.

    1. The bias is strong with that tweet.

  2. It will be such a shame if we see the halo run from next year onwards. Horrible looking thing. Typical FIA.

    1. Horrible and what protection does it really offer?

      1. Exactly. For me the looks don’t really matter, but the question is, does it really give them that much head protection, or in exchange does it create bigger issues, such as making extraction difficult, seatbelts difficult, visibility compromise, etc. And does it deflect the debris or will is break it around the cockpit? These are all things we trust the FIA to look into conclusively before implementing such a thing, and from what I have heard is they haven’t done that properly yet. I hope they do the right thing and not rush it.

        1. I think with the halo they missed a key fact: it might be between your eyes on a straight but it’s going to get in the way when you look left or right.

  3. Regarding the FIA Halo presentation to the drivers Friday, evidently they were shown some “shocking” photos from F1, GP2 and GP3 as part of the presentation. For some reason that jogged my memories of driver training from high school here in California (a long time ago). They showed our classes horrific accident scene photos taken by the highway patrol. Quite graphic to say the least. An effort to convince us high schoolers to slow down and drive safer I suppose. I guess the FIA is trying to gain support for the halo from the drivers by doing this and also showing how the halo could help save lives.

    1. not really up to speed on F1 these days, dont know if I will even bother watching live/social setting, but I think it’s pretty much over after next year. The FIA are completely clueless, pushing their politics like they do. The only thing keeping the FIA together is the licensing scheme(s), there is no competition to keep them in check, it’s more absurd than modern art. BTW, Animal Farm (Orwell) is a great book.

      I remember back in 2003, when “shock and awe” was used to “help save lives”, the same ‘extreme’ kind of communication was used back in the 70’s before the first UNEP/UN climate conference with the ‘documentary(really propaganda from establishment types), to push the whole people need to stop having babies idea. Maybe this is why F1 needs younger people driving, because it’s race to the bottom is going to drive out people who know anything. A shame, the two top factories in F1 are completely behind the halo, can’t see it going away, because it’s not about choice, it’s about control.

      1. Actually, I think protecting the driver’s heads better is a very good idea. However, the FIA does appear a bit clueless at times.

        Agreed, Animal Farm is an excellent book…

        1. Do you remember Massa’s ‘spring’ incident? I doubt that halo would have deflected it. If it did hit the halo the spring could have gone anywhere maybe causing more damage. But like all knee jerk thinking, they must be seen to be doing something, even if that something is useless. @PCXMAC I too don’t bother watching F1 live or participating in live chats any more. The buzz is gone. Rather than enjoying the race I think about how dumb all the new rules are. What penalties will be handed out and what new rule/alteration will be dished out next race.

          1. Good point, yet I believe Massa’s spring incident also proved that anything the size of the spring and smaller is survivable with the helmet alone. That’s why the halo will let smaller debris through yet block the larger pieces, which as we has seen are not survivable.

  4. …”shocking” photos from F1, GP2 and GP3 *accidents…

  5. Why is the BBC still spending our money sending Benson on a jolly watching races? They gave up the only reason I had to ever watch the BBC to save money so why are they still wasting money on it? What a joke.

    1. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
      23rd July 2016, 8:15

      The BBC didn’t say they wouldn’t cover anything to do with F1. This will be nowhere near as expensive as what they used to do. They still commentate on BBC Radio 5 Live with Alan McNish most races I think. At leased they said they would at the beginning of this year.

    2. Because they have a bottomless pit of money and run an extortion racket to get funds.
      If only all businesses were run that way. /s

    3. @philipgb Because BBC still have the radio rights & cover every race live on BBC Radio 5 (Which they still produce from the circuits with 2 commentators & a pit reporter) with additional weekly radio programs & podcast’s.

  6. Would the Halo have had any impact on Massa and the Brawn spring or even Senna. Space for a wishbone through the Halo. Jules; The safety vehicles should be fitted with heavy rubber skirts. Absorb a lot of energy.

  7. Nothing against the principle of more head protection but this smells like another change they’ll rescind after like two races next year after a few accidents because of reduced visibility… seems to me that placing an obstacle smack dab in the middle of a driver’s field of vision is just a fundamentally bad idea.

    1. Stick something vertically in your car on top of your dashboard on the centre line of your steering wheel.
      I tried it, it’s all but invisible.

    2. ColdFly F1 (@)
      23rd July 2016, 10:53

      @maciek, having 2 eyes allows us to see ‘around’ small objects.

      Tried it myself: last I saw a beautiful girl and went straight up to her; she did not even see me!

      1. Lmao 😂😂😂😂

  8. Any info why Button and Sainz get a reprimand?

    1. Its Bottas and Sainz (not Button) – they both crossed the line at the pit entry and didn’t respect the bollard.

  9. Can Ferrari/Red Bull run the halo again next month at Spa? It’ll be good to get driver input on how much visibility is hampered during elevation changes. Vettel alluded to a bit of this in their most recent run, so it’ll be good to hear from the drivers how it feels, at Eau Rouge for example.

    A bonus will be for them to run the halo with repositioned camera mounts, and maybe eye tracking cameras too.

  10. FIA are a joke, and motorsport under them will continue to be in a huge rut until they somehow go away. Thank god for Imsa and Indycar.

  11. Hang on wasn’t Kvyat complaining because he got punished in Austria for making a mistake? Case of pandering to the public like Vettel & Hamilton are at the moment?

    1. As I said before, Kvyat acts all tough and guaranteed he’ll be the first to crash.

  12. Its like its something dark behind the halo, nobody wants it but the FIA insist on it

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