What is the number one rule for each participant of Formula 1 who works with the cars? Right, to take on the helmet because safety comes here first. Moreover, this sport has taken a significant step forward, providing additional measures to protect drivers in the last twenty years. What can happen, you may say, as Formula 1 went far from its origins in the 1950s and became fully refuged? Yes and no. Sometimes, the water, fire, loads, and debris make the situation outstanding, unpredictably testing the current devices. Let’s focus on the F1 helmet and explore its safety features that guarantee drivers reliable protection no matter what.
But, before we start, why helmet, and why is it not the only one?
Safety In Formula 1: HALO-Helmet-HANS
The main danger of Formula 1 is in the g-force loads. So, it is partly about speed. The impact of speed difference that drivers have experienced during acceleration, deceleration, and especially in crashes may harm the racers soon unless the devices. Why it happens?
Each part of the driver’s body must be protected, but the head needs additional guarantees. The case is in the human’s physiological features because the bundle head-neck is the most vulnerable part. In short, the head at high g-forces becomes weightier as many times as loads impact, and it must be strengthened and unmoved to endure this mass.
Remember the accident with Gilles Villeneuve at qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix 1982. He hit Jochen Mass’s car and went into the air at 225km/h. After a massive airborne, he nosedived into the ground. Strapping to a seat didn’t guard his neck; he got a fracture.
Therefore, the driver’s head protection isn’t confined to just a helmet, but it is a vital part of a chain of devices: HALO-Helmet-HANS, despite each being introduced at different times.
The HANS or the Head and Neck Support appeared in Formula 1 in 2003. The device fixes the neck’s movement, and even though it is not so comfortable, the driver’s neck is motionless, whether he races at 50km/h or 350km/h.
The HALO was introduced in 2018 and immediately proved its necessity in the sport. The titanium barrier around the cockpit protects the driver’s head when the car is flipping, crashing into the wall, or colliding.
In this order, HALO-Helmet-HANS devices work together to provide the maximum guard. Therefore, when we talk about helmets, we mean these three. Although, its value is hard to overestimate.
As Strong As Bank Vault
Modern helmets in Formula 1 have nothing in common with their ancestor in 1952. Did that soft leather cap guarantee the safe of a driver? Of course not, nor its followed hard-shelled successors.
The age of racing equipment designed primarily to protect the drivers started in 1962 when the Bell brand set the gold standard with their certificated 500TX. The Bell has led the manufactories, and after a while, Arai, Stilo, and Schubert completed the brands the current drivers use in Formula 1.
However, Bell or Schubert, it doesn’t matter. Today, all the helmets drivers wear in Formula 1 must be certificated under FIA 8860 regulations. That is where their safety features become evident.
The certificated FIA 8860 F1 helmet is famous for its straightening and withstands the force of 275G. And, without a tiny scratch, it endures the hitting of a 1.5-tonne car on both sides.
Such a feature guarantees the driver’s head will be protected even if something turns wrong, as happened at the Italian Grand Prix 2021. Thus, it was hard to imagine what could have been with Lewis Hamilton’s head after Max Vertsapen’s car’s rear right wheel got on the Mercedes board if not for the HALO and helmet.
However, enduring masses is not the only feature that proves the helmet’s strength, as it also guards the face and eyes of a driver.
The Reliable Protection Of Both Head And Eyes
So, regarding the FIA 8860 requirements, helmets in Formula 1 must be bulletproof and pass the test by throwing 4 kg of “pike cargo” on the helmet. If there is the slightest dent, the item is to be banned.
However, if not for the accident with Felipe Massa in the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix, there wouldn’t be ballistic testing for a long time.
Massa crashed due to his face being struck by a loose coil of going ahead Rubens Barrichello’s car at 240 km/h. The Brazilian was injured, but not seriously. However, after ten years, the Italian brand Stilo pulled head protection to the next level. They revealed a new golden standard: a ballistic-tested concept in 2018.
What’s more, the visor withstands the shot of a gram bullet at three points: front, top, and back.
The lightweight to reduce the loads on the neck.
One of the safety features of the helmet in Formula 1 is that it must be strong, but at the same time, it must be lightweight, preventing the load on the neck. The weight doubles when the car accelerates or decelerates. So, if the device weighs about 3 kg, it reaches about 6kg at the pikes of the speed, causing the loads on the neck and shoulders.
However, the racing helmet for Formula 1 is different and weighs no more than a liter of water – 1.25 kg, which can vary according to the driver’s head size and brand.
How is it possible?
The case is in material, a super light 17 carbon fiber layers with high-density foam, absorbing all the impact and distributing weight during significant crashes.
Besides carbon fiber, it is stuffed with space materials like Kevlar, Polyethylene, Polycarbonate, Epoxy Resin, Aluminum, Magnesium, Titanium, and Nomex for resisting fire.
The Head’s Protection Against The Fire
Another crucial F1 helmet’s safety feature is that it is partly fireproof. Where is it cane the fire on the track, you may say?
Well, everything is possible during the race, and the incident with Romain Grosjean at the Bahrain Grand Prix in 2020 proves it. He crashed his Haas and got trapped, spending 27 seconds trying to leave the car in the fireball, while HALO saved the driver’s head against hitting the barrier.
Despite Grosjean’s eyebrows and eyelashes melted, his helmet withstood the fire curtain.
So, with balaclava, the the paramount item resists temperatures of 700°C for no less than 45 seconds. The inside temperature has remained below 70°C.
As for the driver’s eyes, the shockproof visor is made of Lexan and holds an outside temperature of 800°C.
Takeaways
Formula 1 suited technologies ahead of its time in terms of safety. It started with the Bell brand’s producing helmets to keep the driver’s head safe.
The current golden standard described in the FIA 8860 regulations and consists of modern F1 helmets are to be thought to the details.
These helmets have nothing in common with those from the past. These are different and famous for their strength against the impact of mass hits and g-force loads impact, while they weigh no more than a bottle of water. These are fireproof and restrain the bullets.
The safety of the driver’s head is not about the helmet only. The device works in connection with HANS and HALO devices. HANS takes the hit while HALO fixes the driver’s neck against the movements.
Altogether, these support and guard the most vulnerable driver’s body parts – neck and head; in the racing at minimum and maximum speeds, in the rain and sun, and during accelerating on straightforward and even hard-braking crashes.
So, don’t wonder when the next time you hear that certificated helmets of Bell, Stilo, Arai, and Schuberth cost about $5000 – $9000. It is the price for protection at high speed.
References
- Motorsport, Rebecca Braybrook ‘Everything you need to know about F1 safety gear‘ (March 5, 2024), https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/f1-safety-gear-key-features/10583209/#:~:text=Helmets%20consist%20of%20a%20carbon,provide%20maximum%20protection%20to%20drivers.
- Racecar Engineering, Alto Ono ‘How the Formula 1 Halo works‘ (June 21, 2023) https://www.racecar-engineering.com/tech-explained/tech-explained-formula-1-halo/
- FIA STANDARD GUIDELINES HELMETS (2023) https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/guidelines_helmets-to_publish_bd.pdf
- F1chronicle, Jarrod Partridge ‘How Does HANS Device Work?‘ (March 11, 2024) https://f1chronicle.com/how-does-hans-device-work-formula-1-technology/
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