In the round-up: Nico Hulkenberg expects Halo will not be a permanent addition following its introduction in the 2018 F1 season.
Links
Your daily digest of F1 news, views, features and more from hundreds of sites across the web:
Halo may disadvantage heavier drivers in 2018 (Autosport)
"I don't think the Halo will survive very long in F1, to be honest. I think people will realise it's not that necessary."
Ecclestone on mischief-making and why Putin should run Europe (FT)
"I was selling this shitty product and it embarrassed me because I think, without exception, all the race) promoters are good mates of mine and I feel sorry for them having to try and struggle to sell tickets at such a shitty show."
Hamilton can dominate again in 2018 - but beware Red Bull (Evening Standard)
Johnny Herbert: "It will be a great story if Robert Kubica gets the drive, but that would be an error in my view. So much depends on who gets that second seat."
Newey says sport has lost gladiatorial edge (bbc)
"Now if you watch on board footage you kind of feel - and you'd be wrong of course - that you would be able to do it yourself."
F1 world champion on embracing veganism and where he can improve in 2018 (The Telegraph)
"The second half of this season was almost perfect. But can I apply that to the first half? It’s a tough order, but that’s my goal."
Hamilton: How veganism helped the F1 world champion to glory (CNN)
"It's crazy. I'm not putting more weight on because, with this new plant-based diet, I can have more carbs which is contradictory of what you'd normally have thought diet-wise, but I'm not going to complain, I love pancakes so it's great."
Sauber delays 2018 driver decision (Motorsport)
"It is not a key point for the team and alongside driver choice, we have other topics to discuss. There is a driver position in FP1 and so on. So it will probably take a bit longer than expected."
‘UAE could have F1 driver by tomorrow if they want,’ says (Ed) Jones (Gulf News)
"The only way I’d go to F1 now is if it was for one of the top four teams. Being at a top Indy Car team is better than being lower down in F1."
'Rev up motorsports in Malaysia' (New Straits Times)
Sepang International Circuit CEO Datuk Ahmad Razlan Ahmad Razali: "We don’t want to sell unrealistic dreams and that F1 should not be the target. We should not tell a 27-year-old that he should go into kart racing to get to F1, that is wrong."
More shenanigans at the Medical Commission (A Former F1 Doc writes)
"I should point out that the Saillant himself is within striking distance of 75 (if not beyond). I’m certain that if Todt indeed runs and wins the FIA presidency again, Saillant will not use the age criteria to remove himself in favour of a younger person. In fact, Jean-Jacques Issermann, who is well into his nineties, still sits on the Commission."
Raikkonen calls in at Ferrari World Abu Dhabi ahead of Formula 1 Grand Prix (Breaking travel news)
"Enjoying the adrenaline feeling of the free-fall, Raikkonen casually cheered in his ice-cool attitude for a second go to the ride, this time being seated backwards."
"If my mum was screaming about something, we would always look to Dad to calm her down. Whenever I have needed him – any bad breakup, any advice, anything – he has always been there. A lot of people think of him as completely emotionless, but he’s not like that."
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
Hey @RGrosjean it's not what it looks like 😂 pic.twitter.com/nWCXtELg2t
— Daniel Ricciardo (@danielricciardo) November 24, 2017
Just found out this weekend with be the last on track for Penny Whitaker. You won’t know her. 9/10 of the paddock won’t. But without her F3000, GP2, F2 and GP3 couldn’t have happened. Every driver to pass through their ranks owes her a debt of gratitude. As do I.
— Will Buxton (@thebuxtonblog) November 24, 2017
Sounds like those of us who hated the arrival of quieter F1 engines were not Luddites as Liberty insists that the 'power units' of the future should roar and snarl. I don't go to see rock bands play acoustic. Don't like noise – buy ear defenders.
— bob mckenzie (@bobmckenzieuk) November 24, 2017
Without @MrSteveMatchett and the rest of the crew putting on the best analysis and commentary for F1 on T.V., I will have a hard time getting used to the new stuff 😕. Time to go cry into my copy of The Chariot Makers…
— Tristan Ament (@tament18) November 24, 2017
The Halo… The end of @F1 as we know it. I am not saying deaths and injuries should be brushed off. But this kind of knee jerk reaction is the type of stuff that has killed the sport! So in actual fact… It has caused a death. The death of F1!
— Wayne Obie (@Wayne_Obie) November 24, 2017
Alright, but can we stop moaning about the halo now and just wait and see how it looks on the new cars/what it’s like. I feel like people exaggerate quite a bit when they say next year’s cars will be the ugliest F1 cars we’ve ever had just bc of the halo.
— Silvana (@simplysilvana) November 24, 2017
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Comment of the day
Perhaps getting rid of the current F1 logo is less about what it looks like and more about what it stands for:
Part of me thinks the only reason they want to change it so drastically, rather than just tweaking like most iconic logos do (Shell, Apple, Mercedes, BMW, GE, to name but a few examples), is to break from the “Bernie Era”.
@Mtlracer
From the forum
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Matt Aitch, Sozavele and Swapnil Aman!
If you want a birthday shout-out tell us when yours is via the contact form or adding to the list here.
Strontium (@strontium)
25th November 2017, 0:21
I’m not going to be surprised if there is a near-miss (something like Alonso and Raikkonen’s collision in Austria) and the FIA claim that the halo made a difference, even if it didn’t. Once the halo is on the cars, they could start crediting it with saving the drivers life in every major collision
GT Racer (@gt-racer)
25th November 2017, 0:41
@strontium Could say the same about any of the safety devices on the cars.
How often do you hear the HANS device or wheel tethers credited with preventing injury? And while they have clearly helped prevent injuries/deaths in many situations, There are bound to be some where they didn’t make any difference to the outcome but were still at least partly credited with been a benefit.
As to it been removed down the road, Can’t see it happening because once on the cars it will be refined, improved & eventually replaced with something better whenever one becomes available.
I also hear that mock-ups Ross Brawn has been showing around to teams/drivers/media this weekend of the vision for the 2021 cars (I hear they look somewhat futuristic) includes the Halo, Albeit a version that is said to look far more appealing than what we have seen thus far as it’s fully integrated into the design philosophy of the whole car.
MrBoerns (@mrboerns)
25th November 2017, 1:17
That is actually the one thing that really strikes me everytime i watch early-2000s footage. Everything seems pretty good safety wise except for this abundance of loose, flying wheels going all over the place.
Bart
25th November 2017, 9:59
Even with tethers wheels do fly.
One of Kimi Räikkönens wheels sheared off when he crashed at Silverstone 2014 and brushed past Max Chiltons helmet. Chiltons helmet had a black tire mark on its side…
Had the tire hit him one inch to the left then his helmet would have been bounced aside like a bowling pin. He would have been killed!
anon
25th November 2017, 10:10
@mrboerns, and what is forgotten is that those loose wheels ended up killing two marshals (Paolo Gislimberti in the Italian GP in 2000 and Graham Beveridge in the 2001 Australian GP) – though all too often it seems that a lot of people here never seem to care about the welfare of the marshals.
Phil-F1-21
25th November 2017, 10:42
Are there any photos of the 2021 car design mock-ups
nase
25th November 2017, 0:29
On an unrelated note: When asked about the top four teams in F1, Jones spontaneously named Haas, Sauber, Toro Rosso, and Marussia.
Oh yeah, and those people who keep calling the Halo a ‘kneejerk’ reaction seem to have made atypical experiences with kneejerks, because last time I checked, they don’t take 3 full years of group meetings, redesigning, and testing.
GT Racer (@gt-racer)
25th November 2017, 0:30
Something came out tonight that isn’t a part of this round-up which I just wanted to comment on/clarify.
Next year every car will run a 360° camera on the top of the chassis just in-front of the Halo which will provide a shot like this from an earlier test – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xQZP1AInPA.
The thing I wanted to make note of is that these cameras will not be broadcasting live feeds & will only be recording to internal flash media within the camera itself. To go along with these they will also have some (Again non live) 360° cameras at trackside recording for post race release.
There going to be doing what Formula E do & making post race edits on social media platforms featuring the 360° material. For example- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIqV5iqLsTE
The reason the camera will be where it will be & not on the roll hoop as in Formula E is because the cars will still carry the existing live transmitting t-bar front/backward facing camera. Not every Formula E car carries a live in-car (every f1 car does) so they are able to put the 360° on the roll hoop in place of the dummy housings.
Strontium (@strontium)
25th November 2017, 1:41
That sounds really good. I’ve been thinking they should do something like this for a couple of years now
@HoHum (@hohum)
25th November 2017, 2:51
@gt-racer, I’m all for that, our (NSW Australia) FTA 1 hour highlights broadcast of the BrazilGP, consisted of the 1st 16 or so laps between commercials, and then after another commercial break we got 6 +- laps of LH chasing KR, then SV crossing the line, all unedited from the original live broadcast, had I not read about the race beforehand I would have thought we had cut to a different race.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
25th November 2017, 0:55
I’m all for dropping the halo because it looks horrible, but for it’s significance in the safety standards, it’ll stay and we’ll be grateful for it. Seriously, anyone complaining about it should watch FIA’s press conference from a couple of months ago. They gave a very detailed analysis and it’s hard to go against their conclusions. It saves lives, it stays.
I don’t like it, don’t get me wrong, but if it means not crying during a lonely night in the middle of October like in 2014, I’m all for it.
Jere (@jerejj)
25th November 2017, 8:17
@fer-no65 +1.
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
25th November 2017, 11:30
@fer-no65
The FIA said that in the case of Jules Bianchi accidents the Halo would have served for nothing.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
25th November 2017, 12:23
@tifoso1989 that’s not my point. What I mean is that I don’t want to see another driver getting injured, halo or not. If this one helps in that case, great.
bosyber (@bosyber)
25th November 2017, 12:27
And that’s actually reassuring @tifoso1989, because that was clear from the start: the only fix for such accidents is not to have heavy equipment near the track while the cars are going around fast. VSC is one of the things that came in to help there.
Zazeems (@zazeems)
25th November 2017, 0:59
Green said there was “zero” chance of the halo being dropped before the opening race of the 2018 season, adding it would need “something as big” as a boycott.
You know to do, lads.
Zazeems (@zazeems)
25th November 2017, 1:01
*you know what to do
Egonovi
25th November 2017, 8:56
That’s what you want them to boycott for?
There are many more important issues; even within the confined World of F1.
dragoll (@dragoll)
25th November 2017, 1:13
In all honesty, F1 lost its looks credibility in 2014, at least the halo is designed for a good cause, driver safety…
https://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/IMG_3662-886×590.jpg
@HoHum (@hohum)
25th November 2017, 2:55
2014 !? Don’t you mean 1970.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
25th November 2017, 5:12
Did vegan for a couple months, not that I was binging on meat. I felt no improvement at all, as with detox diets, it’s about effort, that makes the difference. Drop the vegan thing, makes no difference or whatsoever, bad or good.
Mark G (@)
25th November 2017, 9:18
@peartree there are things to be gained from making changes to your diet if you suffer from even mild intolerances or allergies. If it’s working for him, or anyone elae for that matter, then who are we to argue?
I’ve also noticed Hamilton has been referencing his diet as being plant-based and not Vegan, perhaps to try and avoid starting discussions around the stereotypes associated with it.
Rhys Lloyd (@justrhysism)
25th November 2017, 11:53
Also provides room if he decides one night he just has to have a steak. Followed by some ice cream. “It’s plant based, not plant only !”
Robbie (@robbie)
25th November 2017, 13:05
I’m fine with whatever diet a person wants to have and I’ve never tried to become vegetarian nor vegan, but I do find it a bit curious that if this has been so miraculous for LH, why his personal trainer(s) didn’t recommend this long ago.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
26th November 2017, 18:30
@sparkyamg Not arguing about Lewis. I’m arguing about the stereotypes, vegan vs vegetarian vs modern. As with detox diets it’s about what works with you, rather than because it’s a so called “super food”.
ruliemaulana (@ruliemaulana)
25th November 2017, 7:28
If I had a giant corporation surely love to have Bernie as CEO. He didn’t spent lots of advertising yet he manage to push company value up while kept teams share high even when he was against the product format.
Egonovi
25th November 2017, 9:01
Yeah Bernie as CEO, Trump as President, and throw in Mugabe to make it a trio.
High standards.
ruliemaulana (@ruliemaulana)
25th November 2017, 9:36
Didn’t Trump was democratically elected?
anon
25th November 2017, 10:39
@ruliemaulana, strictly speaking, Trump was not directly elected to his position by the US public – the US public technically vote for members of the US Electoral College, and the members of the US Electoral College then vote on whom should be elected President.
Normally the electors vote in accordance with the majority vote within their state, or sometimes within a particular electoral district, but not all states require them to do so and, over the years, there have been instances where the electors have voted differently – for example, in 2016 we know that at least one Texan elector cast his vote in support of Kasich instead of Trump, and that vote was a valid nomination for Kasich to be awarded the Presidency.
The US Electoral College system means that, even though Trump actually lost the popular vote – he scored 46% of the popular vote, whereas Clinton scored 48% – because of the way that votes are allocated under the US Electoral College system, he was able to win a majority of the votes from the electors and therefore won the Presidency.
It has been a long standing criticism of the US Electoral College system that the way in which the electors are allocated means that candidates can lose the popular vote, but win enough electoral college votes to win the Presidency. Theoretically, a candidate could win as little as just over 22% of the popular vote and still win enough votes from the US Electoral Colleges to win the Presidency – whilst very unlikely to occur in reality, the fact that the electoral system would allow such a thing to happen does highlight some of the flaws within the US electoral system.
Lancer033 (@lancer033)
25th November 2017, 14:13
just to point out the other side of the coin for the electoral college. Candidates know how the system works and plan their campaigns around it. While it does tend to push the focus to “battle ground” states, those are spread all around the country. With a direct popular vote, campaigns would shift to high population areas and everywhere else would be forgotten, so the candidates have to think about the country as a whole, not just the high population centers.
Paul F (@)
25th November 2017, 11:57
Lost by 3 million votes. See the above for an explanation of the Electoral College.
Egonovi
25th November 2017, 12:03
And so was Mugabe. But irrelevant to the (sarcastic) point I made.
Dwight_js
25th November 2017, 20:19
So wad Mugabe. What’s your point?
Michael Brown (@)
25th November 2017, 7:38
The FIA practically forced the Halo on the teams
anon
25th November 2017, 11:05
@mbr-9, the FIA has often had to force safety changes onto the teams, even when the changes might seem like common sense – from the restrictions they had to place on teams in the 1960’s on using pure magnesium components, which caused essentially uncontrollable fires that also made it extremely dangerous for those trying to put the fire out, through to forcing the teams to move the drivers legs behind the front axle line in the 1980’s because, for years, drivers were being extremely badly injured (Regazzoni, for example, being permanently paralysed from the waist down after a crash in 1980), or even killed (Peterson) but the teams did not want to give up the centre of gravity advantage from putting the drivers legs ahead of the front axle line.
ruliemaulana (@ruliemaulana)
25th November 2017, 7:41
Kimi did look like too casual in that new Turbo Track.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=36&v=NofridZjeiw
hahostolze (@hahostolze)
25th November 2017, 7:45
Shame you missed the tweet by AMuS about the halo, Keith. Bottas for instance is still struggling to get out of the car in the time the FIA requires. Very dangerous.
Egonovi
25th November 2017, 9:04
That’s why Keith included articles about Veganism and weight management ;)
@hahostolze
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
25th November 2017, 9:23
@hahostolze Is this what you’re referring to? Hadn’t seen it:
https://twitter.com/tgruener/status/934070724955987968
It was probably buried under the endless stupid .gifs the teams insist on posting…
StefMeister (@stefmeister)
25th November 2017, 9:46
@hahostolze I don’t see extraction been an issue with the Halo once drivers get used to it & figure out what the best way of pulling themselves up/out is.
It’s also been brought up on Sky a few times over the year that once it’s integrated into the car design next year it will be a lot sturdier than the bolt-on version thats been trialed in practice sessions & drivers will therefore be able to better use it to pull themselves out without it moving around a bit as the test version apparently does if drivers try to do that.
anon
25th November 2017, 10:53
@stefmeister, and Tobias Grüner, the person who took those photographs, made exactly that point – that Bottas only took that long because that was the first time that he had ever practised evacuating the car with the Halo on.
Having spoken with Bottas afterwards, and with other drivers as well, he has said that, with a bit more practise, they can meet the minimum evacuation times – so it sounds as if the complaints are over exaggerated and it won’t be the sort of problem that people are trying to portray it as being.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
25th November 2017, 10:16
Coming next to F1 – ejector seats.
John H (@john-h)
25th November 2017, 17:04
I’ve been saying this on this site and been met with derision by Halo ‘fans’. You can’t get out, and that test they did upside down (in the FiA presentation) was done with no front end of the car attached. It’s ridiculous. Of course it’s difficult for the driver to get out, it’s stating the bleeding obvious. Just by looking at it you can see it will cause issues.
KevinY
25th November 2017, 8:12
I just hope that we will be able to say the same thing Alonso said: “Hulkenberg was right!”
JackySteeg (@jackysteeg)
25th November 2017, 8:51
I’m no fan of the halo, but it can either be introduced now or introduced at some point in the future when an F1 driver is killed by flying debris. Why wait for that to happen?
Pat Ruadh (@fullcoursecaution)
25th November 2017, 11:50
And what if halo deflects debris towards the drivers face? Or another cars nosecone that would have otherwise ridden over the helmet a la Alonso/Grosjean? Better the devil you know.
Lancer033 (@lancer033)
25th November 2017, 14:17
your seatbelt might trap you in a burning car, but you still wear one right? Same thing for the halo.
John H (@john-h)
25th November 2017, 17:00
You can undo a seatbelt, and indeed the HANS neck support clips. The same should apply for Halo.
Serg (@)
25th November 2017, 16:32
@jackysteeg, @lancer033, two drivers in an almost 70-year history of Formula One have been killed by flying objects. One driver was stricken by bird (wearing no full-face helmet) and the other by a fire extinguisher (due to a complete negligence of the track marshals). Let’s not forget that until 1996, cars cockpits were fully open.
Lancer033 (@lancer033)
28th November 2017, 0:25
This was worth watching.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6w5WZoKEKoE
FlatSix (@)
25th November 2017, 9:18
Just watched the highlights of yesterdays Race 1 of the Esports thingy. They only did a 25% race? How lame is that,… they try to be taken seriously with a fancy league and first they run on a crappy game and next they don’t even do a full GP distance. They should’ve picked iRacing, and most likely we wouldn’t even see any of the 20 guys right now as the world series there is of another level than Codemasters Need for Speed in a F1 jacket…
Rhys Lloyd (@justrhysism)
26th November 2017, 2:07
Race distances may increase in the future, but it has to be engaging for the fans and I don’t really want to watch a full virtual GP. But 25% distance I can justify my time.
That’s just me, but I doubt I’m alone.
Gary
25th November 2017, 9:35
So, “…for health and environmental reasons…” Lewis became a vegan. My understanding is that he made this decision while flying to L.A. on his party jet.
Robbie (@robbie)
25th November 2017, 12:57
Lol…yup cows are more harmful than ‘our flights and our cars’ so I’ll proceed to change course mid-flight at will whenever I have the fuel onboard to burn.
Alex Brown (@splittimes)
25th November 2017, 9:46
I don’t know why, but this round up left me feeling really despondent.
kpcart
25th November 2017, 13:19
maximum extraction time test for the drivers to exit cockpit themselves will be lifted with halo from 5 seconds to what? 10-15? interesting yesterday what Martin Brundle said, apparently in Hungary test, Kubica recorded the fastest ever self extraction time, that’s determination. https://twitter.com/SkySportsF1/status/933755501816500224
John H (@john-h)
25th November 2017, 16:55
Bob McKenzie clearly doesn’t understand that in the past, F1 engines were not chosen based on noise but performance. Noise was a by product. As soon as we move away from that philosophy, F1 becomes only surface deep and long term will suffer. These people really should know better but I guess I expect too much.
Kenny
25th November 2017, 19:52
If anyone still wants to subject themselves to more Bernie drivel this link might get past the FT paywall:
https://www.ft.com/content/628a7280-cde6-11e7-9dbb-291a884dd8c6?myftTopics=f967910f-67d5-31f7-a031-64f8af0d9cf1#myft:my-news:grid
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
25th November 2017, 20:06
That’s a link to the same article which is in the round-up, which isn’t behind a paywall to begin with.
Kenny
25th November 2017, 19:53
I guess that FT link doesn’t work, sorry about that. You can try searching for the title. One of the search results wil probably work…