3 - HELLO HALO !
Contrary to what its name suggest, the "Halo" is not an aureole made of light but rather a sturdy titanium frame installed above the cockpit to protect the driver's head from large moving debris. The mandatory device can be purchased by the teams from three FIA approved suppliers (English, Italian and German), at a cost of roughly € 15,000.
The structure’s mission is to prevent large objects (such as wheels, parts, etc...) from entering the cockpit. According to studies conducted by the governing body, the Halo would not have saved Jules Bianchi but could have had a protectice effect in the case of Felipe Massa’s accident in Hungary in 2009, when the Brazilian driver was hot by a flying spring.
New crash tests have been introduced to ensure the strength of the Halo. While the element itself is manufactured by an approved supplier, the attachements to the chassis are the team’s responsibility. The survival cell and fasteners must withstand different loads applied for five seconds at four locations: 11.6 tons on the top of the frame, 4.6 and 8.3 tons longitudinally at the front and 9.3 tons on the sides
In addition to creating turbulence, the Halo’s weight also poses a problem. Due to the loads it will have to support, the Halo will weigh about 15kg (9kg for the structure and 6 kg for the attachements).
However, this added weight will only be offset by an increase of just 6 kg of the overall minimum weight of a car. The engineers have thus less ballast or none at all to spread throughout the car, which will have an impact on performance. Force India has confirmed it will not have ballast to move around, which is in contrast to McLaren.
“We have a little bit of ballast, says race director Eric Boullier. The team is very good when it comes to taking weight out of the chassis. Other outfits can’t say as much, they are the same whose chassis was too heavy last year.”
The heavier drivers will be asked to lose a few kilos, and it’s quite likely some cars will tip the scales above the minimum weight at the start of the season.
