Halo has to withstand 'the weight of a double-decker bus'

Mercedes technical director James Allison has provided an insight into the challenges of incorporating the new halo device on to the chassis of the 2018 vehicles, and claimed that the structure needs to withstand 'the weight of a London double-decker bus' to be effective.

The halo is being introduced as a safety measure in the form of a structure which will surround the head of the driver in order to protect them from any potential falling debris after a crash.

Allison has likened the weight that the device will need hold as that of a London bus.

“Adopting it has been a significant challenge,” Allison confessed.

“This is not a light piece of work, it is several kilos of titanium that needs to be put in the car and all the changes that we needed to do to accommodate made so that the overall car would still stay below the weight limit.

“This is also not light because it takes really, really high loads.

“We had to strengthen the design of the chassis so it would be able to take roughly the weight of a London double-decker bus sitting on top of this Halo to make sure it would be strong enough to withstand the type of event it was designed to protect the driver’s head against.”

Take a double-decker bus. Balance it on top of a 7kg metal frame. Then bolt that to a 300km/h racing car

Those are the kind of numbers the 2018 @F1 chassis has to be able to stand up to… ????

So, what else do we know about the Halo so far? James Allison explains all ???? pic.twitter.com/gtNHbw7SIV — Mercedes-AMG F1 (@MercedesAMGF1) February 7, 2018

Allison went on to speak of the difficulties of adding the halo on to the new cars, saying that the main aim of the team is to make the ride as smooth as possible.

“This unadorned round tube is quite bad aerodynamically so we’re all permitted to modify the halo in a way which will be individual for each team," the Mercedes technical director continued.

“We’re permitted to fit an aerodynamic fairing around it, which gives us a certain amount of scope to mitigate the effect it has on the aerodynamics of the car.

“And what we’re aiming to do is ensure the wake of this Halo does not affect the smooth running and performance of the engine so we make sure the wake of the Halo does not get ingested by the engine.

“We also make sure it is designed so that it doesn’t damage the behaviour of the rear wing.”