F1: Frontal Head Protection Deferred to 2018

[Grand Tourist]

View attachment 146008

 

[Boby Kim]

Take them out of the car, with VR, besides the track no one gets hurt.

 

[Leonardo Chaves]

if they want to enhance the spectacle they should focus less on aero and more on mechanical grip (would be a bit less dangerous with slower speeds on corners), the 2017 cars is exactly the opposite.

That's your opinion, people need to stop spouting that as a fact.

 

[Will Mazeo]

That's your opinion, people need to stop spouting that as a fact.

It is a fact, they are making more downforce on the wings in 2017
Why do you think they need DRS? lol
The cars will look cool tho

 

[Paul Jeffrey]

Also, open wheel doesn´t mean open head

You know what I mean Open cockpit it was supposed to say

 

[Leonardo Chaves]

It is a fact, they are making more downforce on the wings in 2017
Why do you think they need DRS? lol
The cars will look cool tho

More mechanical grip=better racing is an unproven, unsubstantied, theory.

All grip comes from the tires, even at high speeds, aero is a multiplier if you will.

 

[Will Mazeo]

More mechanical grip=better racing is an unproven, unsubstantied, theory.

All grip comes from the tires, even at high speeds, aero is a multiplier if you will.

Ok...

 

[RC45]

Yet another stupid idea.

Modern F1 is full of them.

It is either open cockpit open wheel racing or it is not.

Period.

F1 racers are either scared little boys or they are proper drivers.

F1 is honestly a joke of a motor sport already, so I guess the next logic step is to actually turn force the teams to field clown cars.

 

[Leonardo Chaves]

Ok...

Waiting for you to get scientific...

 

[RC45]

Do you really think the drivers of these cars don't have huge stainless steel testicles? Just because we can drive virtual copies of these cars around virtual tracks doesn't mean we have any idea of the sheer force of will it takes to keep your foot to the floor while sweeping through Eau Rogue or diving into the Parabolica at 150 mph.
F1 is never going to be "safe", but adding head protection will make it safer and reduce the risk of a driver dying.
Yes, racing motorcyclists drive at similar speeds to F1, but they still minimise the risk of injury and by wearing the best protective gear they can. The same when we go go-karting, we wear the overalls and helmet to minimise the risk. All the safety updates F1 has been through, especially since '94, have been to minimise the risk of losing another driver. And it's worked.
Yes, the halo is damned ugly, and for me at least, not really suitable for purpose. The screen is better, but will be harder to integrate into the car design. I'm sure there are other issues too, but if head protection saves 1 drivers life, it's worth it.

Are you serious?

You going to jump on the "if it saves 1 life" its worth it band wagon?

Seriously?

By that same logic then all cars that travel on public roads that are capable of speeds over 15mph must be banned - it will surely save at least 1 life.

No more red meat, no more parachuting, no more swimming in open water - and for sure no more rugby, boxing, football, soccer, cricket or gymnastics - after all, if it can just save 1 life....... and the above events all kill more people per year that F1 racing.

 

[Will Mazeo]

Waiting for you to get scientific...

That would be a huge waste of my time so keep waiting

 

[Leonardo Chaves]

That would be a huge waste of my time so keep waiting

Instead go for memes, that shows how smart you are

 

[Will Mazeo]

Instead go for memes, that shows how smart you are

Ikr! Thanks man

 

[RC45]

I wanted to point out the difference between open cockpit and open wheel, the two are not exclusive and formula 1 could be closed cockpit open wheel. If the drivers want head protection and it would give them more confidence on the road then you should consider more of what they want. It's not some "lame-butts" coming in to try and make the sport safer, it's the drivers that want it the most. Drivers have always wanted more safety in motorsport, and it's their right to demand for more of it if the danger makes them uncomfortable about competing.

If you think back to the times of Jackie Stewart, there came a point where all of his best friends had died from racing incidents and that he had no friends left in f1. Apparently you had a 1/3 chance of surviving over the course of a 5 year racing career or something like that. You guys are saying that death is just "part of the deal" but to the drivers death is horrific and terrifying, it is every time a racer dies and the drivers and teams shouldn't have to deal with how hard that is on everyone just because people think danger is "entertaining."

They (and all other motorcycle racers and car drivers) know motor sports is dangerous - period.

If they don't want to get hurt, go play tiddlywinks. The idea of the F1 drivers head behind a cushy screen out of the wind blast is stupid - the very nature of the sport is the added challenge of the open wheels and open cockpit.

We already have a closed body prototype class. And it is not called F1. And guess what, drivers can die in those cars as well - so the idea that this next "safety feature" will save every life is pretty foolish.

 

[P*Funk]

fault proof design

No such thing. The only way you even get close to one though is through implementing something and then seeing how it works.

More mechanical grip=better racing is an unproven, unsubstantied, theory.

I think its pretty well substantiated by the evolution of passing in relation to aero and dirty air.

Even non spec series that have little aero disturbance have much much closer racing and better passing. As soon as you go open wheel/high aero you get passing problems. Series that are exclusively about mechanical with no aero have exciting racing, even if they're series you've never heard of.

 

[MoerasGrizzly]

If they don't want to get hurt, go play tiddlywinks. The idea of the F1 drivers head behind a cushy screen out of the wind blast is stupid

It's not stupid at all: It's a return to tradition! Look at this 50s F1 car:

Head protection is, well, it's a non-issue. The sport will not change much with them being present. The only thing that will change for the spectators is that the car looks slightly different now then it did before, just like the cars and the drivers looked different when they started wearing fully enclosed helmets and fire-proof suits. It's not yet another engine change, it's not yet another aero thing, it's not the tracks being fundementally altered so that they have more tarmac then a large airfield, it's not whatever the **** that qualifying thing was. It's a tiny change to how the cars look.

 

[MoerasGrizzly]

And, to hammer the point home on how having windscreens in F1 is not an assault on tradition, here's the VAAANWAAAAALLLLLL:

I love that thing.

 

[Will Mazeo]

And, to hammer the point home on how having windscreens in F1 is not an assault on tradition, here's the VAAANWAAAAALLLLLL:

If they did it this way wouldn't be bad, the halo is just ridiculous, better just go all LMP1 instead of that thing already.

 

[MoerasGrizzly]

If they did it this way wouldn't be bad, the halo is just ridiculous, better just go all LMP1 instead of that thing already.

That halo does seem stupid, simply becuase it gets in the way of the drivers field of view. It would be like racing with a 2 monitor setup.

 

[Leonardo Chaves]

I think its pretty well substantiated by the evolution of passing in relation to aero and dirty air.

Even non spec series that have little aero disturbance have much much closer racing and better passing. As soon as you go open wheel/high aero you get passing problems. Series that are exclusively about mechanical with no aero have exciting racing, even if they're series you've never heard of.

Aero does bother following cars, that is a sientific fact, the more grip from the tires=better racing is complete hogwash(also despite being smaller current tires generate more grip than the 80's and 90's), cars on threaded tires prove it.

There's also the fact that with formula cars you have respect their space a bit more, aka no touching, and they brake so well(aero has influence here too) that you can't react to the braking point of the car ahead.

You could remove aero completely, brakes wouldn't work as well, cars wouldn't loose downforce at high speed corners.
But that would degrade the show to many people, believe it or not to some F1 is about ludicrous speeds rather than wheel to wheel.