From Romain Grosjean to Lewis Hamilton: how the “horrible” halo ended up getting everyone to agree – Eurosport.fr

It must be admitted, the Formula 1 single-seater has ceased to be beautiful since the transplant of the halo at the start of the 2018 season. Two years earlier, this aesthetic pitfall had even been the main obstacle to its adoption while Jean Todt, the president of the International Automobile Federation, was trying to impose it, in reaction to the fatal accidents of young British hopeful Henry Surtees, son of world champion John Surtees, hit by a wheel in 2009, and Justin Wilson, one of the Indycar’s most prominent pilots, in 2015, killed by flying debris.

The attack on the beauty of his car was even the argument put forward by Lewis Hamilton to discredit this halo – in his French translation – that he had just seen on Kimi Räikkönen’s Ferrari: “Please, no! This is the worst aesthetic change in the history of Formula 1. I appreciate the quest for safety but here we are in Formula 1, and the way it is today. suits me perfectly. “

The Mercedes star, who had sworn that he would never be seen driving a single-seater equipped with a halo, had posted this comment on his Instagram account, on a post since withdrawn. And it is through this same social network that he praised the famous shield on Sunday, after taking Max Verstappen’s Red Bull on the head. “There must be someone watching over me,” wrote the Englishman. The halo kept the crash from getting much worse. I am incredibly grateful to everyone who is working to make our cars and races safer. “ This great believer often thanked God in his trials, but there, God was simply called Jean Todt.

“So, we can put a bus on it …”

“The halo clearly saved Lewis’ life“, trumpeted his boss, Toto Wolff. A happy observation for a tasty change of mind. “If you give me a chainsaw, I saw it myself on the spot !, had railed the Austrian director, during the presentation of the Mercedes of 2018. We must improve the safety of the drivers but what we have added is not not attractive. We really need to find a solution that is just more aesthetic. “

In his team, the triple world champion Niki Lauda had supported the words of his compatriot by considering that the halo “destroyed the DNA of F1”. But the Austrian sling had found an answer on the side of the pioneer of safety on the circuits, also triple world champion of his state. “We must not wait for the dead, had pleaded Jackie Stewart. In this specific case, the FIA ​​is doing exactly what it takes to introduce it.. Some don’t like it, but they said the same about seat belts. “ Or rails around circuits elsewhere, among others.

But this was not the only grievance of Toto Wolff, annoyed that one attacks the work of his engineers. “It’s a huge weight at the top of the car, it disrupts the center of gravity of the car a lot., he noticed. Although it’s impressive to be able to put a bus on it, it’s a Formula 1. So, we can put a bus on it … “

Indeed, this halo, which weighs 10kg and also spoils the flow of air above the cockpit of the single-seater – but it is the same for everyone -, was designed to withstand a load of 12 tons. But on Sunday, the 752 kg of Max Verstappen’s RB16B, not to mention the gasoline on board, were enough to threaten Lewis Hamilton’s physical integrity.

“With the halo, the aesthetics of Formula 1 will become shitty”

Going back to 2016, Lewis Hamilton had ended up testing the protection system, and realizing that it was not that annoying. “It slightly obstructs the vision in the mirrors”, he had conceded. LH44 had not even mentioned the vertical grab bar positioned in the axis, just in front of the eyes. Normal, a pilot looks to the right or to the left to prepare for the next turn, and the minimal thickness of the bar is not really a disruptive element in the straights, where he takes the opportunity to check their dashboard.

In fact, the halo has been so well thought out that its positioning distance and the thickness of its main bar have been calculated to be almost forgotten by the effect of convergence of the vision of both eyes.

“Visibility is not a problem”, Carlos Sainz concluded at the time, while Kevin Magnussen returned to his idea of ​​the look of his car and the automotive tradition. “It takes away the passion, the excitement, complained the Dane, in Le Monde. Formula 1 cars must be beautiful to look at. That’s why a Ferrari is more exciting to watch than a Mazda! Passion and visual pleasure are also important. With the halo, the aesthetics of Formula 1 will become crappy. “

Grosjean was also seriously mistaken

When Nico Hülkenberg, still a Grand Prix driver last year, followed in the footsteps of the ex-Haas driver by taxing the halo of“horrible”, and maintained that the pilots “had to accept an element of danger”, Sergio Pérez feared the consequences of the accidents, stressing that getting out of the car would require five more seconds, which put him “uncomfortable”. Indeed, Nico Hülkenberg was faced with the impossibility of getting out of his Force India returned at the end of the season in Abu Dhabi. But his plea – “I’m stuck like a cow” – had not questioned the validity of the security package.

And like what we can be seriously mistaken, Romain Grosjean had in his time also tried to discredit the Halo. “I said it was a sad day for F1, said the French in July 2017, when announcing the obligation to install the shield for 2018. It is something that I do not like and of which I do not see the point. Almost all the teams were against, the fans are against, the drivers mostly said no, and yet he will be there next season. “

“I think the halo can create problems that you didn’t have and be useful in very few cases”, added the driver Haas, then president of the pilots’ association (GPDA), and as a privileged interlocutor of the FIA. He feared impaired vision, especially to see the fires at the start, but that never happened. “The Halo seems really effective in preventing us from being hit by a tire coming off, but it also asks a lot of questions, unlike the latest developments in F1”.

We know what happened to it. He was against the halo until he owed his life during his accident at the Bahrain Grand Prix at the end of 2020. Since then, the halo is no longer a subject of debate and it is fortunate.