What is the 'Halo' that saved F1 driver Romain Grosjean’s life in Bahrain Grand Prix crash?

Haas F1 driver Romain Grosjean paid tribute to the halo for saving him in the terrifying 137mph crash at the start of the Bahrain Grand Prix. In the opening lap, Grosjean hit the track barrier exiting Turn 3, tearing the Haas VF-20 car in two, and causing a huge fire to break out. The driver was able to escape the fire quickly and credited the Halo with saving his life.
“I wasn't for the halo some years ago, but I think it's the greatest thing that we've brought to Formula 1, and without it I wouldn't be able to speak with you today,” he said in a video from his hospital bed.


Seven-time F1 World champion, Lewis Hamilton, also tweeted, “I'm so grateful Romain is safe. Wow... the risk we take is no joke, for those of you out there that forget that we put our life on the line for this sport and for what we love to do. Thankful to the FIA for the massive strides we've taken for Romain to walk away from that safely.”

What is the Halo?
Introduced in 2018, the Halo is a ring of titanium that sits above the car’s cockpit to protect the driver’s head from flying debris. A single vertical pylon supports the structure in front of the driver and the hoop above the cockpit is mounted to the car's survival cell and cockpit surround.

The first Halo prototype, proposed by Mercedes in 2015, performed well against a 20 kg tyre fired from a nitrogen-powered cannon at speeds of 225 km/h. At the 2016 Austrian Grand Prix, a lighter, stronger prototype made of titanium was introduced. The arc of the Halo was made wider to improve visibility and eradicate the risk of a driver hitting his head on the structure during an impact. Following a series of tests, a final design was decided and made mandatory midway through 2017.


Is it safer?
In FIA studies of small objects being projected at the Halo from different angles, it was found that the structure would protect the driver 17 percent of the time.

Why was it criticized initially?
Putting that much weight that high up is a car designer’s nightmare. The Halo and mountings combined are said to weigh between 10kg and 14kg.

One of the initial concerns with the Halo was that it would make it more difficult for drivers to climb out of crashed cars. To combat this, the amount of time in which a driver must be able to climb out of the car has increased from five seconds to seven seconds to cater for the added difficulty of navigating the Halo. In the unlikely event that an impact is strong enough to deform the Halo, it was also mandated that cutting tools would be carried in the F1 medical car to ensure there are no issues getting drivers out of dangerous situations.

A number of drivers were also critical initially of the Halo for aesthetic reasons but have since changed their stance. After Grosjean’s crash yesterday, Red Bull driver Max Verstappen said, “In the beginning when it came onto the car I was quite critical about it that it looked ugly but you can’t say anything about the safety because today it definitely saved Romain so I’m very happy with that.”