Formula One teams are still allowed to mount mirrors on the Halo but the FIA will not permit the style of design used by Ferrari at the Spanish Grand Prix.
The dispute over Ferrari’s Halo-mounted wing mirrors centred on the extent to which the team had tried to gain an aerodynamic benefit from the design.
Teams were told in an FIA technical directive earlier this year they may mount wing mirrors onto the Halo. However in a statement today the FIA declared the aerodynamic effect of such designs must be minimised.“Whilst the FIA accepts that teams will legitimately design the mirrors, housings and mountings to minimise any negative aerodynamic effects they may cause, we believe that any aerodynamic benefits should be incidental, or at least minimal,” it said.
The FIA has told teams the mountings must “provide a meaningful structural contribution to the mounting system” and “be mounted to the lower and/or inboard surface(s) of the mirror housing.” Teams which use more than one mounting, as was the case with the design Ferrari used in Spain, may be required to demonstrate why they are needed from a structural point of view.
“As the criteria for determining the eligibility of a mounting are to some extent subjective, the FIA would be available to discuss the legality of a new design before [teams] introduce it in a race, to avoid wasting resource, time or money,” it added.
The FIA admitted its current rules around Halo-mounted mirrors are “not perfect” and it intends to revise them ahead of the 2019 F1 season.
“For the sake of clarity, the various provisions made in TD/014-18 [the technical directive permitting Halo-mounted mirrors] still apply for halo-mounted mirrors. The FIA expect to have full compliance with the present technical directive by the next race.”
“The FIA do acknowledge that the rules currently in force with regard to mirrors are not perfect, and will strive to propose a more complete set of rules in terms of mirror position, mountings, visibility, etc… in the near future, with the aim to get a unanimous support for such changes for 2019.”
Ferrari continued to run the same Halo-mounted mirrors design during the last two days of testing at the Circuit de Catalunya.
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Phylyp (@phylyp)
17th May 2018, 11:26
The halo is a standard piece of kit. I wish the FIA would just provide a reference design for a mirror mount on the halo, and be done with it. The actual mirror unit could still be left to the teams, so Ferrari can still use their mirrors with the flow-through design.
Yes, I know this is antithetical to the whole notion of pushing the boundaries of the regulations through creative interpretation, but seeing as the halo is a standard item, why not do likewise for the mirror mounts?
Phylyp (@phylyp)
17th May 2018, 11:29
Forgot to add – if the FIA could mandate halo mounted mirrors, and put in a proper mirror mount on the halo (that is well positioned for height and width), then that should help address the common complaint from drivers “I didn’t see that car”
Tristan (@skipgamer)
17th May 2018, 16:54
On that note I wonder how much of the inside of the Halo the drivers can see through their helmets. They could potentially put a screen with a rear view camera there?
Stopgap until helmet HUD’s anyway…
spoutnik (@spoutnik)
18th May 2018, 11:29
@skipgamer Last time HUDs were implemented in an F1 helmet was in 2002 with Ralf Schumacher’s helmet. You can find some information about it when it was unveiled but I can’t find much about why it was dropped.
Bebana
17th May 2018, 14:37
There is no problem at all.
I suggest Ferrari engineers to give ideas and mirrors to Merz and FIA will not object since they present themselves as Merzedes Development Agency.
Todfod (@todfod)
17th May 2018, 12:15
Wouldn’t it just be easier to say no Halo mounted mirrors allowed and end this story? Now every weekend they’re going to have to deal with a different team interpreting the rules differently.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
17th May 2018, 12:25
@todfod – yep, I can get behind that as well. :-) It keeps the halo as a spec part.
Velocityboy (@velocityboy)
17th May 2018, 12:31
Personally I think that if a team comes up with something that’s within the rules, if the FIA then clarify the rule, the existing design should be included in the clarification and continue to be legal.
Gabriel (@rethla)
18th May 2018, 16:44
Everyone would be running fan cars then
grumpy
17th May 2018, 13:29
This sounds like another wishy washy ruling by the FIA that will remain open to interpretation.
StefMeister (@stefmeister)
17th May 2018, 13:40
I don’t really see the problem with the mirrors they ran in Spain to be honest.
They may not have looked great but so what, The cars are supposed to be designed to be fast rather than designed for there looks.
Everyone complains that cars look too similar, That clever thinking is dead & the rules too restrictive. Yet everytime anyone tries something a little different fans are too quick to complain about aesthetics, Gaining advantages & the FIA are then too quick to ban everything.
What happened to the days where creative thinking was rewarded rather than banned?
FlyingLobster27
17th May 2018, 18:16
And which days were those @stefmeister?
The 80s? That time they banned the double-chassis’d Lotus before it even raced?
The 70s? That time they banned the Brabham fan car after just one race?
The 60s? That time they banned the 4WD Lotus turbine car from Indy after just one start?
And arguably, those were bigger innovations than Ferrari simply interpreting “no aero devices on halo” as “put aero devices on halo”.
Velocityboy (@velocityboy)
17th May 2018, 18:56
+1.
If the FIA were producing Sesame Street, the song would go “One of these things is not like the others…let’s ban it”
Gabriel (@rethla)
18th May 2018, 16:55
@stefmeister The cars are designed to be safe. No aero on safetystructures.
Deej92 (@deej92)
17th May 2018, 13:45
Exactly. Wasn’t it teams complaining about this that got it banned? How dare Ferrari show some innovation.
Deej92 (@deej92)
17th May 2018, 13:46
Sorry that was meant as a reply to @stefmeister.
Little Dodo
17th May 2018, 14:15
How about an “Anti-Doodad” regulation? No more silly gizmos, no more bells and whistles (which, no doubt, would be marketed as auditory enhancement features). I can see it now: “halo mirrors are designed to increase fan engagement, allow for enhanced tracking by F1 fans, provide additional visual appeal for our fans, and represent F1 commitment to development and innovation going forward.” Not to mention they’re shiny and sticky-outy!
Iosif (@afonic)
17th May 2018, 14:43
They shouldn’t have allowed mirrors on the halo at the first place. More wasted funds.
NS Biker (@rekibsn)
17th May 2018, 21:28
The Halo mounted mirror is not a problem and it isn’t the issue. It might even put the mirrors in a better location. Great.
What the other teams seem to have objected to and what the FIA is clearly trying to eliminate, is the funky additional aero add-on device that Ferrari loosely attached above the mirror and called a “support”.
I think the Halo is a great place to hang mirrors. It is also a fabulous place to want to put some aero devices. Mostly because I am sure it makes a real mess of the aero around the air intakes and the back end of the car.
Interesting that Red Bull have not (as yet) added the little deflectors on the top surface of the Halo. Wonder if they know something …. or are they really behind.?
Tarheelpup (@tarheelpup)
18th May 2018, 3:32
I’ve got to hand it to them. I didn’t think it was possible but the mirrors actually make the Halo even uglier. Hang several more mirrors up there and it will look like the drum set for an ’80s Metal band.
Zad (@)
18th May 2018, 4:16
A very sick move from fia, considering they have no problem with the FI, MERC and RB sollutions. if they´re unhappy with mirror designs, then they should just give a standard mirror and call it a day.
i´d just take the flap from above the mirror, and put it down so that the mirror is mounted on the halo and the body aswell. Let´s see if ferrari have another trick in their bag, although obviously the phrase “The FIA expect to have full compliance with the present technical directive by the next race.” is kind of a joke cause they don´t even know what they mean by this and ferrari has 99 problems (but the bernie ain´t one ;-)