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'Legal issues forcing the Halo into play'

Published on 09 Aug 2017 15:51
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By: Fergal Walsh

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has stated that legal issues mean the Halo must now be included in Formula 1. Horner declared that the FIA would land itself in a lot of trouble if a driver was hurt or injured and it was found there was a device available that would have saved the driver's life.

Horner also believes that Mercedes backed the FIA into a corner. Mercedes originally produced the idea of the Halo a couple of years ago, when talks about driver head protection began to ramp up after the accident of Jules Bianchi.

"Mercedes came out with that concept (Halo) and it put the FIA in a difficult position," he told Auto Motor und Sport. "If we have an accident now and we don't have Halo on the car, but it might have saved a life, then from a legal standpoint it will be difficult to argue why it wasn't there if it was available," he said.

"That's why we (Red Bull) developed the Aeroscreen -- to try to solve the problem more aesthetically than this 'flip flop'. The FIA is now in a corner with only the Halo and no other option. My concern is that every racing formula down to karts will have to have this thing - where does it stop? I think that at a certain point, as a driver, you have to accept certain risks," Horner said.

Fergal Walsh

Barron

Posts: 625

Not too quickly, no. Search on YouTube, there is an FIA video of the development of the Halo and the thousands of hours of testing. It is very impressive and answers many questions. To all those that eject their toys because they don't like the look of it, goodbye because you're only a skin deep ... [Read more]

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Aug 10 2017 - 17:33

F1 News Mercedes

Replies (8)

Malli

Posts: 1
Utter tosh. That's like saying "Brake Lights" are available, Vettel wouldn't have crashed into Hamilton if they'd been installed. They're professional drivers. They know and accept the risks
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- Aug 9 2017 - 16:46
Rindtchamp

Posts: 304
Utter hogwash. but if it does go ahead, I won't be watching and that's not a threat, simple a statement of fact. The halo would be the 'last straw' for me.
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- Aug 9 2017 - 16:50
- f1fan0101
  
  Posts: 1,804
  Bye bye
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  Aug 9 2017 - 16:51
calle.itw

Posts: 8,527
Well yes, its hardly surprising. Thats what any company would do.

And honestly, I find some of the reactions to the Halo a bit silly. Im not fond of the aesthetics of it either, they are outright ugly, but like it or not, it does seem like the FIA has tested it thoroughly, and that it could've stopped some of the more severe accidents from going wrong. Is that really that bad? If you like the sport, and like drivers going all out, wouldnt you like to see them do it without risking their lives? We hardly need more dead or crippled drivers. And lets be honest here: does the Halo, in any way, harm the show itself? Not really. They are not pretty, no, but surely you watch F1 mostly for the racing itself?

As for the whole "safety is for pussies argument": Do you wear seatbelts? Are they comfortable? Pretty? No. Yet most people still wear them. Because its sensible, much safer, and to not use them is silly. Just plain silly. They do not eliminate the risks of injury completely, no, but the only thing that would do that would be quitting the sport altogether, and who want that? I dont like it, but introducing something like the Halo is a sensible thing to do, from a driver's safety perspective.
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- Aug 9 2017 - 17:14
NEXT SPARE VAMP

Posts: 1,874
Interesting. I'm waiting for a video of a F1-car equiped with an halo, driving into a shovel.
I think the Bianchi-family will be interested too.
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- Aug 10 2017 - 00:19
- boudy
  
  Posts: 1,168
  The FIA had already said that in that case a halo wouldn't not have saved Bianchi. Safety is always important however normally this comes as an result of issues. Yet I have not seen those issues. The cases that I know of (Massa, Bianchi) would not have had a different outcome.
  
  I believe that the halo could have an worse impact on safety ... so issues caused by the halo imagine the lawsuite if something went wrong because of the halo.
  
  The decision to run with an halo was made to quick I feel.
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  Aug 10 2017 - 15:52
- Barron
  
  Posts: 625
  Not too quickly, no. Search on YouTube, there is an FIA video of the development of the Halo and the thousands of hours of testing. It is very impressive and answers many questions. To all those that eject their toys because they don't like the look of it, goodbye because you're only a skin deep fan and won't be missed..The sad fact is we live in a litigious society and it doesn't matter what the driver signs up to, it is the bereaved families who will take up the cudgels for reasons best known to themselves, but whatever they do, they can't bring them back. The other modern quirk is that somebody has to be to blame for everything. Whatever people might say, no one ever shrugs their shoulders after a fatal event and says "oh well, he knew the risks" No, their first move is to find someone to blame and if they can't be sure who, then everyone is to blame. This is not just motor racing it's in all aspects of modern life. The motive? Money. In a few situations, apportioning blame might help improve people's chance of survival in a future similar circumstance (for example inept work practices or negligence) but in the main people are after money.
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  Aug 10 2017 - 17:33
kngrthr

Posts: 203
dont let lawyers run the planet.

i have a device that wil mean no driver gets injured ever.

we just hook all the simulators together and watch that.

so now if a driver goes in an actual CAR and gets injured , well the layers will say there was a perfect alternative and sue
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- Aug 10 2017 - 14:13