Better looking halo for 2021?

Introducing the halo in Formula One is almost unanimously agreed to have been a good decision after the Belgian GP pile-up, where Fernando Alonso’s McLaren scraped over the top of Charles Leclerc’s halo. Still though, it is a bit ugly, but that could be set to change as soon as 2021.

FIA Formula One race director Charlie Whiting has revealed that that FIA are looking at producing a halo that is more aesthetically pleasing to be introduced in just over two years’ time.

There had been plenty of debate and controversy over the introduction of added head protection into F1 and F1’s junior classes after the tragic deaths of Jules Bianchi and Henry Surtees, with both accidents said to have been preventable by introducing the halo.

Now the safety aspect has been dealt with, the FIA is looking at making the halo more attractive.

Whiting said: "There is further research going on for a new iteration, probably 2021, for a possibly more aesthetically pleasing to some.

"But that’s not the predominant reason for doing it. But I have to say the halo project was the most thoroughly researched project we’ve ever done, by a long way.

"We put an awful lot of work into trying to look at all the incidents where it may have helped, you’ve probably seen the presentations, we tried to assess what would have happened with or without it.

"It was a massively complex piece of research, it would have to be similarly thorough if we want to do another version of it."

Whether it looks good or not, the halo is a vital piece of safety equipment and anything that can be done to make these cars safer is worth doing, and if they can make it look good as well, then that’s great!