Renault Halo, 2018

Halo “doesn’t look too bad” now – Sainz

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In the round-up: Carlos Sainz Jnr says F1’s Halo looks better now it has been properly integrated with the cars.

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6:10 AM. Antidoping control. 🤐

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Comment of the day

Are Sauber more attractive with Alfa Romeo on board? At least one person thinks so:

I think the rear view of the new Sauber in Alfa colors might just be the prettiest, most breath taking photo of an F1 car I’ve ever seen. If it were as good on track as it looks from the rear it would be the 2018 championship-winner.

And I’ve never even given Sauber a second thought during my seven years of being a fan.
Renee

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Keith Collantine
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41 comments on “Halo “doesn’t look too bad” now – Sainz”

  1. Rumours have Mercedes with a potential new livery this year.

    Chrome Blue I hear…..time will tell.

    1. Nope, it’s a ‘copy-paste’ from last year

  2. I am really digging the Hulk’s helmet design, and Bottas’ one is pretty nice too.

    1. Ack, just realized, OCD alert – the yellow on his helmet resembles last year’s yellow (which I liked), but the car has a brighter yellow.

      1. They could look different because it’s two different pictures under different lighting, etc., or they could be actual different colours that go well together, either in person, or on TV.
        The screen you see it on can usually also make a difference. I’d wait until you see them side by side in the same shot.

      2. The cars in a different lighting. Actually, the helmet matches the overalls and the car, thank god, OCD too

      3. The cars in a different lighting. Actually, the helmet matches the overalls and the car, thank god, OCD too

    2. I get the feeling we will see a lot more of that blue later on today…..

    3. @phylyp I like their new helmet designs as well, but Alonso’s one looks the coolest IMO.

  3. The more I see the halo with a driver in the car, the more I hate it… I thought I would get used to it, like the logo, but it’s just not happening.

    1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
      22nd February 2018, 3:36

      Yeah, unfortunately it does look worse in motion with the drivers in it. It disconnects the viewer from the driver.

      Sainz is right that the Halo doesn’t look that bad on the Renault since it’s practically black on black but it’s going to be a different story with a driver in it.

      1. @freelittlebirds

        It disconnects the viewer from the drive

        Yes it does. I read a smart comment in here somewhere that the FIA or the teams could turn it around by using the halo to destinguish the driver. For instance by painting (a part of) the halo in the same colour als the top of the helmet.

      2. I totally agree with this. For over 20 years I have been able to identify, at a glance, which driver I’m looking at, from almost any angle. Even when the helmets are similar (often at Red Bull/Toro Rosso, or 2013 at Mercedes), I’d be correct 90% of the time. Having just watched that video of the Sauber, I couldn’t see the yellow of Ericsson’s helmet until he was alongside the camera. This is a major concern for me, more so than the actual look of the halo, which (as Sainz says) I don’t think is too dreadful when integrated with the livery of the car.

        But then, I suppose when full face helmet’s came about, the same things were said!

        1. I’d be correct 90% of the time

          I’m correct 50% of the time ;-)

  4. Nobody truly cares about the Halo, everyone will keep watching and most importantly of all; viewing numbers are measured by families and individuals that get signed up to a special program which includes an extra binary decoder = Liberty won’t even know If you decide to quit watching. There. Enough with the halo bashing.
    We get it it looks bad. I agree although we need to prevent Alonso finally getting unlucky sometime, after you know the whole Grosjean and Kimi shenanigans.
    Get back to analysing and predicting with photoshopped and stripped down car reveals. Where is that spooky PR account of Egonovi when you need him?
    It is getting annoying.

    1. Really, honestly what are we doing here? If you really want to stop the Halo, stop watching, stop talking, act like F1 doesn’t exist and get others to boycott it in a sort of massive ignore button on social media and circuits attendence, or go the circuits and all take a billboard with #NoHalo, show it at the driver parade or the start and then leave demonstrately. = this won’t happen, so Halo will stay until something better is found. Get over it.

      1. petebaldwin (@)
        22nd February 2018, 11:16

        @xiasitlo Whilst something that ugly is on the cars, I will continue to point out that it’s an embarrassment to all of F1. Get over it.

        1. @petebaldwin
          No, the site is going downwards with this b.s. so after the testing ban, the V6’s, the ridiculous fuel flow limit, the happy-go-lucky rainbow of Pirelli, the rear wing and grooved tyres of the previous decades that made Trulli a living train, required tyre-compounds, the banning of active suspension that maybe also killed Senna, DRS, the testing ban, Tilke tracks and the mess that is aero that makes us notice all the other stuff, noooo, this small piece of car-like flip-flops. That. That is going over the line. Aren’t you a hypocrite, if Karts would’ve invented something like this 10 years ago I’d still could find pictures of you racing. The true embarrassment is the fact nobody even dares to say, the guy that didn’t red flagged or called out the SC after Sutil crashed should be jailed. And the fact Honda (as owners) and the guys in charge that day can’t be heavily prosecuted because in Japanese culture that would mean severe consequences if they would be found guilty.

          But Pete, hey, why don’t you stop watching? It so utterly important to you, you should spend your time with a hobby that you don’t consider ruined by ugly accessories? See. At the end of the day, you keep watching.

    2. The people who are used for measuring viewing figures are chosen as a representative sample of the population. If 1% of them don’t watch then that can be extrapolated to 1% of the population.
      However I’m sure satellite TV companies are able to track who is watching and online streaming is easy to track.

      1. And smart TV’s send your viewing behaviour back to the manufacturer when accepting their T&C.

    3. Where is that spooky PR account of Egonovi

      spooky?

  5. Re COTD: But from the front it unfortunately still looks like squidward

    1. I was going to comment similar opinion as both of you. From the rear it is a work of art but any and every other angle completely undoes that.

      What I don’t understand is how somebody can design something like that and be genuinely satisfied with it

      1. Racecar is racecar backwards
        22nd February 2018, 14:57

        Most of the cars have amazingly sculpted body work around the side pods and engine covers and then they stick those horrible boxy noses on the front. The Halo doesn’t bother me as much as the noses. The only one I liked was the Torro Rosso and they’ve now ditched it this year.

  6. I’m really pleased to see drivers starting to go back towards bold graphics-based helmet designs rather than the messy combinations of patterns and gradients and sparkles that recent years have brought. The old-school designs were *always* better.

    1. Roth Man (@rdotquestionmark)
      22nd February 2018, 13:05

      Good point

  7. First off lets change the name.
    Why call it a Halo? I recall the shape of a Halo more as a “circle”.
    It should be called a “bridge”. A span that lands at either end and may have a column for support. Just like the Golden Gate Bridge except it has two columns but its still a bridge just like Formula Ones Halo.

    I too admit to thinking that this new Renault looks hotter than hell and the Yellow on Black paint is stunning. Some now consider it among the best looking Grand Prix of all time.

  8. Unfortunately that video of the Sauber proves my biggest concern – from not too great a distance it’s virtually indistinguishable from the Williams.

    1. @hahostolze I have to admit that I thought it was Wiliams as well from the thumbnail image of the video where Ericsson is driving it in the pit lane fast lane.

  9. looks like we are getting some really nice helmets this year!

    1. How ironic! Nobody is going to see them.

    2. Agreed, Apart from Alonso’s! Blurgh!

      1. @asanator
        Alonso’s is the only helmet I like so far. Simple layout, few colours, instantly recognisable appearance. Just like the helmets they used to wear in the nineties. The other helmets I find rather boring. Too much going on, too few clear shapes, too many colour transitions and effects that betray a graphics designer who went a little crazy with their photoshop.

  10. Sainz is totally right. Remember those ugly noses back in 2012? After 4-5 races nobody was talking about them. Still these where some the ugliest F1 cars.

    1. Man this years cars are some of the ugliest, overweight, boat looking things I’ve ever seen. Just wanted to get it off my chest.

    2. I really think F1 fans will find something to complain about no matter what.

  11. I got used to Halo already, kind of like nose cones, these are all just safety devices who hopefully wont affect racing.

    But those complicated wings will. Also i love shark fins and coat hanger removal.

    When is first test? Will there be a stream?

    1. @jureo From Monday to Thursday next week in case you hadn’t noticed before.

  12. Here you can find how the new McLaren will look like
    http://www.marca.com/motor/formula1/2018/02/22/5a8e9f30ca474117098b45b5.html

    Papaya orange!

    1. @fumanchu Unsurprising that the livery color scheme has changed to even more predominantly orange than it already was.

      1. I think it will look better than past years

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