Why Do F1 Cars Have A Bar In Front Of The Driver? What The Halo Is For

Formula 1 racing has a reputation of danger extending back to its inception, with the sport claiming dozens of lives of drivers, bystanders, and track staff. Where extremely fast cars drive in close proximity, there's naturally a risk of serious injury or death, something drivers take into account each time they get behind the wheel. But that doesn't mean the sport hasn't dramatically improved since the early days of hay-bale barriers and leather helmets. 

Today, the sport is safer than ever (though it remains inherently dangerous) because of evolving policies and a huge variety of lifesaving technological innovations. One of the most recent of these is something that generated quite a bit of controversy at first: the "Halo," a ring-shaped hoop circling above the driver's head. Made mandatory in 2018, the Halo joins with the car at three contact points: two behind the driver on either side of the cockpit, and one directly in front of it. The idea is to provide protection against two scenarios: a rollover and large foreign objects entering the cockpit.

For instance, imagine that a car slams into the wall at high speed and a tire gets dislodged. That tire then flies up into the air and might hit another driver's head. The Halo prevents this by providing a rigid barrier made of aerospace-grade titanium, ensuring that the driver isn't injured or killed.

F1 racing has changed dramatically in the 70 years since its first race, and today it's chock-full of the latest automotive advances. But they're occasionally met with fierce opposition at first, especially ones having to do with safety.

Pioneers such as Jackie Stewart revolutionized safety in F1, but Stewart's crusade lasted years and didn't earn him many friends initially. Similarly, the head-and-neck-saving HANS Device faced an uphill battle, only being widely accepted after the tragedy of Dale Earnhardt's death in NASCAR. Even the full-face racing helmet faced controversy at its introduction. So it's little surprise that purists rejected the Halo at first. Some felt it was a step away from open-cockpit racing, while others raised questions about visibility — when there's a big metal bar in front of drivers' faces, would it affect their vision? And some people just thought it looked ugly.

Today, though, the Halo has become an accepted component of the car. And that's not a bad thing, considering it's likely saved at least one life — the life of one of the best F1 drivers of all-time, Lewis Hamilton. In a crash with Max Verstappen's Red Bull car at the 2021 Italian Grand Prix, Verstappen's rear right wheel threatened to enter Hamilton's cockpit, and without the Halo on Hamilton's car, the incident might have ended on a tragic note. The accident occurred only three years after the Halo's introduction, a fantastic example of impeccable timing.