Mayhem wrote:
F1 MERCENARY wrote:
Jezza13 wrote:
F1 MERCENARY wrote:
The only thing I can think of is that they've formulated a different mixture for this purpose that allows the flex without breaking, but I will venture to say that once a halo has taken a hit (should be an extreme rarity) its life cycle is done.
So i'd guess then, as unlikely as it may be, that if a car took a blow to the Halo it'd have to be, at a bare minimum, pitted for an inspection. or possibly even subject to mandatory retirement.
I can't see any way the FIA would allow the car to continue with what could potentially be a faulty piece of safety equipment and as there's nothing attached to the halo to measure the force of the impact, that I know of anyway, does this mean any whack from a solid object would require action ?
No, that's not how it would work unless in extreme circumstances where the halo is severely broken and hanging/flailing about or a sharp end is dangerously close to the drivers head.
Otherwise, just as with bodywork or components broken on cars, the driver would be allowed to finish the race.Drivers helmets get nicked all the time with pebbles and once the gelcoat is compromised the helmet is retired.
F1 mercenary, I agree with your original statement of "once halo has taken a hit.... Its life cycle is done."..... For the simple reason of the structure now has a deform/ fracture and if it sustained another hit wouldnt function as engineered.
The fia wouldnt take that risk of allowing that car to continue. So i dont believe it would fall under the classification of your second statement "Otherwise, just as with bodywork or components broken on cars, the driver would be allowed to finish the race."
On a side note; if the halo was damaged due to any form of strike continuing the race would be the least of the drivers worries at that point. Something has gone seriously wrong for that instance to occur.
(Quick scenario)
Your an F1 driver leading the race a foreign object strikes the cockpit
1- hits halo causing it to deform, halo does its job driver was not struck by said debre everyone is elated driver is ok. but driver is furious since he is forced to retire race as safety precaution since integrty of halo is no longer 100%
2- No halo, debre strikes cockpit driver seriously injured and car would obviously retire the race.
Everyone would pick option 1.
This is assuming the halo has a visible failure in its integrity. Now, playing devils advocate here, and I know this scenario is very remote, but what if an object strikes the halo just enough to cause an indentation or a minor fracture in the structure. Not enough to cause any easily identifiable damage but enough to still render the device useless in another impact. I can think of one or two situations where a damaged halo could be a higher safety risk than not having one there in the first place.
I guess what i'm getting at is what Blinky eluded to. I'd like to see impact sensors placed in the halo that raises an alert in an impact, signalling a compulsory pit stop, inspection and, or retirement.
It's the old business saying; "If you can't measure it, you can't manage it". If there's no way to identify and measure an impact on the halo, then the only way to manage it, if there's no easily visible defect, is to rely on driver feedback, and i'd wager no driver worth 2 cents would volunteer info that could ruin their race.
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