In case you somehow haven't heard yet, Formula One introduced a cockpit protection "halo" for competitors in 2018. It's a device mounted above the cockpit designed to protect the driver's head from impact. Clearly, something needed to be done—but how does it affect the driver's line of sight?

In order to see just how much the halo impinges on vision, CXC Simulations enlisted the help of Stefan Johansson, a Swedish former F1 driver who spent nearly a decade in the sport driving for Ferrari, McLaren, and other teams in the 1980s and 1990s. CXC gave Johansson a virtual reality headset synced to a simulator rig, and asked him to drive around in a 2018 F1 car equipped with the halo.

Since drivers rarely actually look straight ahead during a race, the center stalk of the halo doesn't seem to bother Johansson much. There are some longer sweepers where it could become an issue, but overall, it doesn't hamper visibility mid-race, he explains. The real problem is during the start.

Since drivers have to look up at the starting lights while in the grid, the upper horizontal portion of the halo bar could block them from being able to see above, depending on the angle. Johansson solved this by simply by tilting his head backwards to get a different angle, but that might not be possible in an actual F1 car with tight-packed cockpits and helmets and restraints limiting the driver's range of motion.

Watch for yourself to see how the whole experiment went.

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