the cockpit of the race car and illustrator artwork the driver's head. It's designed to hold the weight of a London double-decker bus - the equivalent of 12 of gravity resting entirely on the 7kg frame, which is clad in carbon . Side view of black F1 car with Halo device Photo Credit: Reuters / BBC News Side view of a black F1 car with a Halo setup. The introduction of life-saving "flip-flops" F1 racing has always been a dangerous sport, but since Henry Surtees in Formula 2 in 2009 and Jules Bianchi in the 2014 F1 Japanese Grand Prix Bianchi and the deaths of drivers including Justin Wilson in an IndyCar in 2015, the issue of safety has come to the fore in recent years. Both and Wilson were killed after being hit in the head by debris from other racing cars. The Halo system was first in F1 cars in 2016 and became mandatory in the sport two years later in 2018 to protect the driver's head from debris or a rollover accident. After years of research, it is the only device that has been successfully tested and determined to withstand a 150 mph impact from a fly-off wheel. Equally crucial for the driver, it is also the only safety device that allows for a largely unobstructed view. The racing world goes from resistance to support It took a few years for the Halo system to be introduced to F1 due to a lot of opposition at first. Opponents included then-F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone. "People thought it was unsightly. People didn't like having a big fence on a driver's head," F1 commentator Harry Benjamin told BBC Radio 1's Newsbeat "Another debate is whether it affects the driver's view from the cockpit. Both have been confirmed to be absent. People have gotten used to it over the past few years." In 2016, driver Lewis Hamilton called it the
top of page
bottom of page