The halos look stupid and wouldn't have saved JB however, they're here now. Honestly in the race I quit noticing them. The grid girl thing I couldn't care less about. There's still women if you want to look at women on the grid? lol
To me the biggest problem still is the terrible aerodynamic rules that make passing by equal cars impossible. These cars need aerodynamic rules that make slipstreaming beneficial. Australia was mind-numbingly boring.
SO I had this thought about Halo. I wonder if whoever came up with this spec was thinking "one dimensionally". That is, he relied on the halo doing EVERYTHING. That the helmet would not have to do any work or protection in the case of a tire hitting the front of the drive. I wonder if a better solution would have been a combination of some kind of guard system working WITH a new helmet design and a new head restraint behind the helmet. In a sort, making a system rather than a single solution to the problem. Instead of making the Halo do everything, maybe it could do something (like deflect or slow down a tire) while the helmet could be redesigned to another (like avoiding a crash into the face of the driver if the tire got past the Halo somehow). Then a backrest behind the helmet would work with a way to counter act the force of the helmet going backwards to prevent a neck injury. And is that is the case, maybe they could go back to a clear windscreen idea that would deflect or greatly slow down a tire but not necessarily stop it cold. Then if it somehow got past the defection to hit the visor, a reinforced helmet (perhaps with a guard like Hockey goalies use) would then finish the job of keeping the driver's face protected while a new head restraint would be a shock absorber, perhaps even like an airbag but behind and to the side of the head. Sometimes people (aka bureaucrats) don't look at all the alternatives. Some genius says we need to make a guard for the drivers and then that's what you get. They just think one way and by doing so ignore more interesting - but more difficult to do -- alternatives. Halo is a success and a failure. They claim it does the job but its ugly and fans don't like it. Forcing it on people is not the answer. Either correct the ugliness, figure a better solution, or get rid of it.
The halo will never disappear. "Safety" measures are rarely reversed, besides which that would be the F.I.A. admitting a mistake.
As a smoking hot woman, I could care less about grid girls , grid boys or grid transsexuals. The Bianchi Bar finally killed it for me. The first race was entertaining by fluke, there's a looong way to go and I don't believe I'll subject myself to a monthly 'love all my fans' Urkel win throughout the season. And no, I don't believe anyone will out update their cars better than Merc.
True, but they can be replaced or modified with something better. I want the cars safe. I think a death would not only be tragic but might end the sport. So, let's make it safer but lets also be smart and protect what people like about the sport too.
If the Halo is the answer to safety issues the arise from accidents, than nothing we can do but to accept it and live with it regardless how ugly it is. However, like someone else mention in this thread before; I can’t see how it can protect the driver if an object, tire or a car crashes on top of it. I can visualize the halo braking into pieces and hurting the driver instead of protecting him. I believe is made out of carbon fiber same as the suspension, aero components and not only. We all have seen how they all break into pieces after a contact. I’m not hoping for an accident but I’m very curious to see how it would work.
Halo sucks. Cars are ugly. F1 should follow Indy Car's lead. The Indy car looks great and the limited aero puts more control in the driver's hands. Better racing. Image Unavailable, Please Login Compare to this abortion Image Unavailable, Please Login
That's the danger of racing, I'd say! Get rid of that PC ******** halo. The drivers of today are a bunch of weasels. Wanna race safely? Buy a Scalextric!
I have a confession to make... Despite my rant, I’ve been watching. The racing has been pretty great this season with more teams closer in performance. I still hate the halo look, and I still miss the old commentary.
Ever since aero has ruled, the cars have been ass-ugly. The halo, ugly in its own right, just adds to the eye pain.
I like the halo It's ingenious how they've adapted it for graphics The dashboard readouts are informative Also a place for more adverts
I think that's worse than the halo. Fin works better on prototypes, not on open wheel. Much like IndyCar, the heyday of beautiful cars is over, and I believe it has an impact. Maybe not end of the world impact, but enough people complain about how bad the cars look (even with the improvements over the past few years). I mean look at this and tell me this isn't awesome: Image Unavailable, Please Login
While I don't agree with you, I like your attitude as the halo is not going away. Like any other change, we adapt.
It is for sure...but I have to say that clunky barge board on the McLaren was a start of the rot. The Mp4/8 was a really elegant looking car when run without the barge boards.
Well , they now have new helmets for next season as well! With a smaller area to see out of but with much greater ballistic protection. The Halo looks like crap and makes it extremely difficult to get out of a car fast (Fire) but I am all for safety. I can see a day where they move to an enclosed cockpit, it’s just the natural course of the safety evolution. Then eventually the drivers will pilot the cars from a remote cockpit to remove all the danger!! Jules Bianchi’s death was preventable in so many ways. I think the Halo was going to come anyway. That race was run in a monsoon, F1 asked to move up the start time but the promoters had to much money on the line and would not budge. After the first wreck in that spot, they should have red flagged the cars until that crane had removed the car. It was an unnecessary risk to the drivers , knowing that turn was precarious in the wet and having them driving while crane was there. Probably a low chance that Jules loses it and drives right under the crane in just that spot but still an unneeded risk. For Jules to lose a life not in a true racing incident is still very disturbing. The drivers understand the risks and accept that something may happen but the sport deserves to give them the best chance of survival. If that means dopey looking Halo’s and new Ballistic helmets, I will get used to them as long as they save lives. I also really miss, the Hobbs,Matchet,Diffey & Will Buxton team and hope to see them back in the future.
Issues like halos and grid girls and announcers don’t matter when the racing has been so incredibly predictable and boring.
True. Practice is a game of sandbagging and deception. Qualifying is when cards are shown. This is the only session I watch now. Races are a parade. Not much point watching after turn 6 of lap 1.
