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Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport
Published on 7 Feb 2018
Whether you like it or not, the Halo is here to stay. Technical Director James Allison explains all you need to know about the Halo ahead of the 2018 F1 season...
00:00 With the final decision.
00:01 Taken to run the halo in 2018 as late as July.
00:05 It meant that there was a huge amount of work
00:06 not just for Mercedes.
00:08 But for the entire formula 1 sport to do in order to be ready for the
start of the new season.
00:14 There was a lot of regulatory detail that needed clearing up all the
dotting of it's and crossing of it's.
00:20 Necessary so that we would have both technical regulations and sporting
regulations that would permit its use.
00:26 But back here in Brackley adopting it has been a significant challenge.
00:31 This is not a light piece of of work.
00:34 It's several kilograms of titanium.
00:38 Several kilograms of titanium that need to be put on the car and all the
changes that we needed to do to accommodate it.
00:44 Made so that the overall car would still stay below the weight limit, and
this is also
00:50 not light because it takes really really high loads we had to strengthen
the design of the chassis, so.
00:56 That it would be able to take roughly the weight of a London double-decker
bus.
01:01 Sitting on top of this halo.
01:02 To make sure that it would be strong enough to withstand the type of event
that are designed to protect the drivers head against.
01:10 In addition to the challenges posed by the halo for the mass of the car
and the loads that it subjects the chassis to.
01:16 There is also a substantial aerodynamic challenge
01:19 The basic halo is a standard part identical for all teams and this.
01:26 Unadorned round tube is quite bad aerodynamically.
01:30 So we're all permitted to modify the halo in a way that will be individual
for each team
01:36 because we're permitted to fit an aerodynamic fairing around it which
gives us a certain amount of scope to.
01:42 Mitigate the effect that it has on the aerodynamics of the car and what
we're aiming to do there is ensure that
01:47 the wake of this halo does not affect the the smooth running and powerful.
01:53 Performance of the engine so we make sure that the wake of the halo does
not get ingested by the engine.
01:58 And we also make sure that it's designed.
02:00 Such that it doesn't damage the behaviour of the rear wing
02:03 so halo is just the latest in a long stream of in of innovations.
02:06 To make sure that the head of the driver is well protected in the car.
02:11 We've got helmets of course but also the hands device, the headrest, the
cockpit sides.
02:16 All these things aimed at keeping the driver safe in the car.
02:19 But this is the first generation of head protection that goes up and over
and around the driver's head.
02:25 It's the first generation, but it won't be the last nothing in Formula One
stands still for long.
02:30 And we will all be taking this first go and trying to improve it trying to
make sure that the safety gets better.
02:36 But also the aesthetics.
02:38 It's a bit of an acquired taste and we're still busy acquiring it, and I'm
sure everyone else is too.
02:43 But I think there's things we can do in coming seasons to make it also
look nicer on the car.
02:48 There's no doubt that the imperative to look after the driver's safety and
our clear desire to give us cars.
02:54 That are going to set the pulse racing aesthetically will see us continue
to develop this concept in the seasons to come.
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