In cycling, the man most recently seen in the maillot jaune, or yellow jersey, has been Chris Froom and while cycling has a long tradition with the color of the jersey the race leader wears, Formula 1 might entertain something similar in order to make use of the rather unsightly HALO device they are imposing for the 2018 season.
FIA president, Jean Todt, was rather keen on the idea of using a yellow HALO device for the championship leader:
“I think there are some clever ideas,” said Todt.
“I heard one idea that I quite like, we should give a different colour of Halo to the leader of the world championship.
“I want to see the name and the number of the cars, which we cannot see. So maybe it will be one opportunity to give that – even if I hear already that teams have sold the space to sponsors. So lucky them!”
Chances are the HALO will look slightly different than the ones tested in 2017 because there is some allowance for slight aero affect and possible sponsor space will be a consideration as the HALO would be very prominent in just about every picture or angle of the car on TV. There won’t be much space to advertise on but it will be interesting to see who gets the most creative with what limited space there is.
On the other hand, why stop at just yellow for the leader? Why not do what the Le Tour de France does and offer a green HALO for something, a polka dot HALO for something else and a white HALO for yet another element. Driver of the race in the last race, rookie of the year, fastest lap etc.
Maybe we could even use the HALO for Most prolific tweeter, most likely to succeed, biggest class clown and most punished. Who knows? Maybe it would be better to put LED’s on them and run messages like, GP2 engine! GP 2 engine! Or STEERING WHEEL!
Hat Tip: Motorsport
If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit
We could do one for “brought the most homies into his posse”, but Hamilton would have that all the time.
If this is what Jean Todt thinks is a “clever idea” then god help us. A CLEVER idea is one that will figure out how to reduce the inequality in the sport and put the limelight back on the drivers. This is just another gimmick to cover up the mess the FIA has gotten itself into with the HALO. The Yellow Jersey in the TdF is a historically significant symbol that represents the leader of one of the most gruelling sporting events in the world. Painting the HALO yellow will not only be disrespectfuly to the TdF but also make… Read more »
Also from the motorsport website that carries the yellow jersey article, a reminder of the value of the improvements in safety in modern F1
https://www.motorsport.com/vintage/news/driver-dies-after-historic-f1-crash-at-zandvoort-950355
Maybe we could put the head of Jean Todt on a halo.
But of course he already thinks his head is permanently under a halo.
Don’t forget one for the Lewis Hamilton Fashion Award winner!!
Let each driver customize their halo for each race since they are no longer allowed to customize their helmets for race. Or will the FIA start claiming that “casual fans” rely on halo paint schemes to ID their favorite driver?