The Halo device received renewed praise after a dramatic crash at the last Italian Grand Prix, although it was a controversial development when it was introduced into F1. On this week’s Tech Tuesday, Mark Hughes takes a look at the device, its design and how Lewis Hamilton protected it in this collision with Max Verstappen in Monza …
“To be honest, I feel very, very happy today,” said Hamilton after meeting Verstappen last week in Monza as the Red Bull jumped over the engine cover of Hamilton’s Mercedes, sliding over the cockpit halo. “Thank god for the halo. That ultimately saved me. And saved my neck. “
READ MORE: Hamilton Says Halo “saved my neck” in Monza and comments on Verstappen’s punishment
The halo encountered significant opposition when it was introduced to Formula 1 (and other FIA single-seater formulas) in 2018, given its aesthetic and philosophical move away from fully open cockpits that have always been inherent in single-seater racing.
However, this criticism has largely been silenced, as the film may portray the lives of Charles Leclerc (in Spa 2018), Romain Grosjean (Bahrain 2020), Valtteri Bottas (in Imola this year in his accident with George Russell when the Williams was growing up) saved side of the Mercedes cockpit) as well as Hamilton in Monza.
After his miraculous escape in Bahrain last year, Grosjean said, “I wasn’t for the halo a few years ago, but I think it’s the greatest thing we’ve put into Formula One and without him I couldn’t be with you today speak.” .”
Watch the Hamilton and Verstappen Monza crash in 360
The original idea
Serious research into some form of cockpit protection began about seven years ago. There had been a spate of injuries (Felipe Massa in F1) and fatalities (Henry Surtees in F2 and Justin Wilson in Indycar), and drivers – Jenson Button in particular – began to wonder about the need for better protection from wheel bouncing or intrusion Cockpit expressing components from other cars in a crash.
Red Bull was working on a jet fighter-like cockpit canopy that looks similar to the one that was later introduced at Indycar. But it was Mercedes who invented the so-called Halo – and introduced it in 2015 (below).
A preview of the halo on the 2015 Mercedes F1 car
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The FIA conducted extensive testing of both ideas, including firing an F1 wheel and an F1 tire at the cockpit (below).
As a result of these tests, the Mercedes design was selected for implementation in 2018. In the meantime, the cockpit rim test for 2016 has been made tougher from 15 kN to 50 kN and the height of the side protection has been increased by 20 mm (below). A kilonewton (kN) is a measure of force, where 1 kN is the force required to move 1 kg at a speed of one meter per second for 1 s.
The sides of the cockpit had to withstand more force in 2016 and the height of the side protection (red arrow, above) was also increased
The rules behind Hamilton’s protection
In Hamilton’s Monza accident, after damaging the rear wing of the Mercedes, Verstappen’s car drove over the engine cover and fell over the cockpit rolling tire (known as the primary rolling structure in FIA regulations) and then sliding over the halo (secondary rolling structure) then into his resting place in the gravel bed.
Let’s see what tests each of these roll structures must pass before the car can even hit the track.
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Rules for the roll bar condition: A load of 50 kN to the side, 60 kN to the rear and 90 kN to the vertical must be applied to the top of the structure by a rigid flat pad with a diameter of 200 mm and perpendicular to the load axis. During the test, the roll structure must be attached to the supported survival cell.
Under load, the deformation along the load axis must be less than 25 mm and any structural failure when measured vertically may be limited to 100 mm below the top of the roll structure.
The Red Bull tire made contact with the Mercedes halo during the crash in Monza
Those for the Halo are similarly extreme: A load of 116 kN vertically downwards and 46 kN longitudinally to the rear must be applied at a position 785 mm in front of the plane CC and 810 mm above the reference plane and positioned on the vehicle center plane. A load of 93 kN laterally inward and 83 kN longitudinally rearward must be applied at a position 590 mm in front of the plane CC and 790 mm above the reference plane to the outer surface of the structure.
The forces exerted on the Halo during the 2018 crash tests
These tests must be performed within three minutes and the forces must be sustained for at least 5 seconds during which no part must fail.
As Mercedes’ James Allison summed up when introducing the Halo, “We had to reinforce the design of the chassis so that it could support about the weight of a London double-decker bus sitting on the Halo.”
READ MORE: Grosjean describes Halo as the “greatest thing” out of the hospital bed and says he would “not be here without him”
Although Verstappen’s tire hit Hamilton’s head when the halo was run over because the car’s weight was being carried by the halo, it wasn’t a serious impact and Hamilton just came out with a sore throat.
Safety is an ongoing campaign and there will undoubtedly be further improvements after the Monza accident.
The post TECH TUESDAY: A closer look at the halo – and how it saved Hamilton’s neck in the Monza crash first appeared on monter-une-startup.
