There’s been another turning point in F1’s quest to find a solution to cockpit protection as the Halo device has now been dropped completely. The Halo was meant to be introduced this year but its introduction was pushed back to 2018, and although it seemed to perform ok in tests the looks of the it were a major sticking point, because it was…well, hideous.
It was one of the talking points at the recent meeting of the F1 Strategy Group and F1 Commission, and it’s been decided that the Halo is going to be dropped in favour of a new solution.
Now the FIA are going to focus on what they call the ‘Shield’, which they first announced during the Chinese Grand Prix weekend. The Shield is a kind of elongated windscreen which runs along the nose and top of the monocoque, and is designed to protect the driver from debris whilst also (hopefully) looking far less ugly than the Halo.
The FIA said:
“A number of more integrated solutions for additional frontal protection have been studied, and the decision has been taken to give priority to the transparent ‘Shield’ family of systems. The FIA aims to carry out track tests of this system during this season in preparation for implementation in 2018.”
Obviously it’ll be hard to judge what the Shield looks like until we see one on an actual F1 car, although it should look somewhat similar to Red Bull’s aeroscreen concept.
Cockpit protection in general is still a divisive topic though, with some drivers for it and others against it, with fans also split on the issue. Either way it seems that the Shield is something we’re very likely to see next year.
Are you happy to see the Halo gone? Let us know in the comments.