Halo graphics are here to stay

Graphics over the halo of Formula 1 cars are set to evolve as the season goes on, having enjoyed a warm reception as they were revealed at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Fans were largely pleasantly surprised to see a graphic detailing a driver's speed, throttle and brake use, and more as a 'hologram' over the halo in Baku.

While the reception to the safety device has been overwhelmingly negative, predominantly on grounds of aesthetics, F1 perhaps struck upon an ingenious way of masking the halo as television viewers joined the on-board cameras of drivers.

Although the graphic displayed the same information each time it was used in the Baku race, future races could see many different sets of data shown on the halo.

"We have a number of data sets and we're going to try and add as much as we can that is available," Dean Locke, F1's director of broadcast and media, told Motorsport.

New #F1 graphics over the Halo.

Genius!#AzerbaijanGP pic.twitter.com/WihVhOhKwB — GP Fans Global (@GPFansGlobal) April 27, 2018

"Teams aren't going to give you anything that gives another team a competitive edge, but we can work with them.

"We still have things that we've already rolled out, like G-force and other elements, that we can build into that graphic.

"There will be new elements that we bring forward. We have such a short winter period to get all this finished, so what we are excited about is we can put more in.

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"We can get that data, and various elements, to the viewing public and excite them a little bit."

Locke also revealed that different media such as movies and video games were the inspiration behind the new graphics - as Liberty Media attempts to improve the show around grands prix.

"That's part of where we're going now," he said. "We're listening to these great marketing and research departments now that can reach out, which we didn't utilise before."