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Safety adviser to the FIA David Lapworth has called for an acceleration in the implementation of safety devices. The Halo will feature in motor racing for the first time in 2018, with the Formula 1 and Formula 2 running the device.
The decision to use it has caused a stir within the motorsport community, with many fans upset by its aesthetics. In a bid to push for increased driver safety, the FIA concluded that the Halo was the most efficient concept that is currently ready to be installed.
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"If we can get things like the Halo to be adopted, even in the very focused area of Formula 1, that is an achievement,” said Lapworth to the FIA’s Auto magazine. "Involving people from the different disciplines in the process can only help. The more people help spread the word and convince the doubters about the science and the work that has gone into it, the better.
"We need to recognise that the roll-out is as important as the pioneering,” he added. "It’s great to have the top-level formulae like F1 being able to engineer new solutions and push the boundaries, but in terms of saving lives the roll-out is where the big numbers come."
However, Lapworth admits that work needs to be done to speed up the process in which a safety device is introduced: "If there’s an area where we’re getting better, but we can get even better, it would be in reducing the time from the seed of the idea to the implementation. And not just the implementation in F1, but in all the disciplines.
"Things like the HANS [Head And Neck Safety] device, which we now take for granted 12 years on, probably took 10 years to get from the first tests to widespread adoption in motorsport disciplines in every country."
Fergal Walsh
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True! We need to be quicker!