Whiting sure developed Halo will improve car aesthetics

Formula 1 race director Charlie Whiting is confident that the Halo's aesthetics will improve for the 2018 season. The announcement that the Halo would feature on the 2018 cars did not go down well with many fans, mainly due to the fear of how they would change the beauty of F1 cars.

However, Whiting has reassured fans that the concept will not be as bad as the raw element that has been tested so far. Facing the media on Thursday, Whiting and his deputy, Laurent Mekies, revealed that teams would be allowed to fit fairings to the halo, to shut out any aerodynamic obstacles. 

"All the halos that we've seen bar one, as I recall, have been raw," said Whiting. "I think we should just wait and see what the teams come up with, because they will all exploit the extra freedom that they've got, even if it is just for aero reasons. I'm sure that they will look more pleasing to the eye."

"They have to use the standard halo, and that will be from a single supplier. We will allow them to use non-structural fairings around the upper part of the halo, which can be no more than 20mm from the main structure."

"I think there's an overall width restriction, and I think there's a restriction on how far they can encroach onto the cockpit opening, but 20mm is quite lot all the way around, and they can do what they like with that. I think the main reason for doing it in the first place was to give them the scope to overcome any aero changes they've got, for example airbox, and things like that."

Mekies also confirmed that the Halo would trickle down into the feeder series: "That's certainly the intention," he said. "As we do with any other safety features, they will go to the other single-seaters, but the halo is the strongest part of the car, so it is not possible to fit it on an existing car.

"Every new single-seater car that will come, we will be introducing it, so yes, you will see it. It will take some years, because in the smaller categories they can't do a new car every year, so it might take some time, but you will see it."

Fergal Walsh