“A lot of question marks” whether Shield can be ready for 2018

2018 F1 season

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The FIA’s Shield concept, which has replaced Halo as its preferred driver head protection solution, faces many “question marks” over whether it could be introduced in time for the 2018 F1 season, according to the teams’ designers.

Technical representatives from the teams will meet with the FIA tomorrow to discuss how the design could be incorporated into their 2018 chassis.

“We’ve seen some preliminary models,” said Force India’s technical director Andy Green. “We’ve been looking at how we integrate those into the chassis next year.”

Monaco Grand Prix practice in pictures
The FIA began real-world evaluations of Halo (pictured) during pre-season testing last year before abandoning the concept. The Shield has not been run on a car yet.

Green raised concerns over whether there is sufficient time to develop the idea for introduction next season.

“There are a lot, a lot of question marks over it,” he said. “There’s a lot of work to do in the timeframe that we have been given. So we need to make some smart decisions going forward.”

“Hopefully we’ll be discussing that tomorrow, with a view to how we answer all those questions in the time period we’ve got.”

Sauber’s technical chief Jorg Zander said his team would finalise its chassis design for 2018 “by the end of July, beginning of August” this year.

“Of course the fundamental question here is about the integration of the shield and the attachment but we are going to discuss this tomorrow, so we need detailed information of course. At the moment, as far as I know, we want to test this system at some point in September, which I think is good.”

“I think the enhancement of safety, improving safety is a fundamental let me say job of ours and I think we should support that, we do support this. But of course we have to makes sure that these things are worked out sensibly and that they fit within the time schedule.”

2017 Monaco Grand Prix

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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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    8 comments on ““A lot of question marks” whether Shield can be ready for 2018”

    1. A morbid question.
      If an accident happens this race and something bad happens. Who will take the blame?

      I would just hate to see another Jules Bianchi and everyone trying to guess if any extra protection would have been the difference between life and death.

      1. What happens if they rush the shield and it fails in a dangerous way?

        Just as valid a question…

      2. How long is a piece of string?

        You really won’t know where to ‘put the blame’ until it happens, unfortunately. Could be a silly driver error, could be weather conditions, could be lack of run-off, could be debris. It’s a total unknown.

      3. Could the “Shield” or Halo have saved Bianchi?! I dont know if it could, that was a freak accident, that happens once every 100 years. And how many accidents in the past could have been prevented with shield or halo? Maybe the one in Hungary, but the chances for that spring to hit would be almost 100% unless the car had a canopy. The drivers are not small children that need to hold hands with everybody and be safe, they clearly do not want the shield or halo, they want to be men and race.
        Just on a similar subject here is a comment from Wolff
        http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/129778/f1-must-stop-racing-on-upermarket-car-parks

    2. Estaban de los Casas
      26th May 2017, 8:22

      This shield concept will certainly raise the level of the beauty of the modern Formula One racecar. A day will come when the open cockpit car will have seemed rather dangerous but its supposed to be.

    3. Definitely can’t see it being on the cars next year to be honest. They tested the halo for over a year and it was scrapped and this hasn’t been tested at all yet.

    4. A closed cockpit has to be: (like a jet fighter)
      1. “self-cleaning” from rain, dirt, vapor etc in order to visibility (or use windshield wiper)
      2. as strong as possible (at least bulletproof)
      3. easily removable from inside and outside in case of accidents or pit stops: brake, dent
      http://imgur.com/a/DF5Ra
      or Red Bull X prototype: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Bull_X2010

    5. Just like the DRS, this Halo is a joke.
      Lexan is extremely strong. What is wrong with a small deflective shield made of Lexan, set at the right angle, to divert an object or other vehicle over the head of the driver, without having some idiotic device in the middle of the line of vision, like the Halo, front support.

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