For good reason, the halo cockpit has been an essential component of f1 for the past few seasons, know its strength, design, visibility and material
After Lewis Hamilton crashed out of the Italian Grand Prix last year, it helped save him from suffering a life-threatening injury. And after Zhou Guanyu crashed in the start of the British Grand Prix in 2022, it seems to have saved his life.
F1 Halo Strength, Design, Visibility, Material And Controversy Since It Was Introduced
In Formula One, safety is of utmost importance, but regrettably, not everyone has had the same good fortune as Roman Grosjean at the Bahrain Grand Prix last year.
Jules Bianchi lost control of his Marussia in dangerous conditions and crashed, dying at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix. The halo, which wasn’t on the cars six years ago but was being developed by the FIA, was quickly cited by his mother as having “saved Romain’s life.”
The halo, a new safety device that is now standard on all F1 cars, was first introduced in 2018. It acts as a titanium ring of defence around the driver’s cockpit.
It is intended to stop drivers from experiencing head trauma like in the unfortunate instance of Bianchi or injuries from flying debris.
He stated: “There are some really amazing plans for a closed cockpit online, and I believe that’s where we’re headed. I think it would look better. “It’s a challenging one because when they first announced and discussed it, they cited a 17% gain in safety, and it’s hard to truly dismiss that. “There’s no denying that it doesn’t look good; we’ve acknowledged as much.”
How was Grosjean saved in the Bahrain crash?
At a barely credible 53G, the impact that split Grosjean’s car in half was the force of the collision. Grosjean was able to jump to safety and avoided severe burns thanks to his four layers of protective clothes despite the fireball that engulfed the remains of his car.
The design underwent extensive testing and study by the F1 regulatory body, which had a modest effect on the drivers’ field of vision. When it was first introduced, some spectators complained that they couldn’t see the racers clearly because of the bulky new framework that surrounded the cockpit.
Lewis Hamilton, the 2018 world champion, said back in 2018 that he thought it might be the first step toward a closed cockpit surrounding the driver, but that hasn’t happened yet. The robust halo is engineered to absorb the majority of the force of impact, safeguarding the driver’s head from severe harm.
It appears to have succeeded in this instance as Grosjean miraculously avoided catastrophic injuries to either his torso or head while only sustaining minor burns to his hands.
After the race, Ross Brawn, managing director of Formula One, insisted that another tragedy may have occurred if not for the halo. There is no question in my mind that the halo was the element that turned the tide and saved Romain.
After the collision, Grosjean was promptly flown to the hospital and thanked the F1 safety system for sparing his life.