Mirrors ‘tough’ to attach to F1 Halo despite clarification

Technical heads from two Formula 1 teams believe that attaching rear-view mirrors to the ‘Halo’ on cars will still prove difficult despite receiving clarification from the FIA.

A technical directive was sent by the FIA to teams ahead of last weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix clarifying that mirrors can be attached to the Halo, so long as they remain within the tight regulations surrounding fairings and attachments to the head protection device.

Many teams have already fitted aerodynamic attachments on the Halo in an attempt to try and aid airflow around the car.

However, Mercedes technical director James Allison and Red Bull chief engineer Paul Monaghan both said it would be tough to get the mirrors affixed while meeting the regulations.

“Now there is some clarity, I guess we know that we can now put mirrors on Halos,” Monaghan said.

“So if someone wants to go down that route and try to fulfill the other requirements in the technical directive, which are not trivial to observe, then yes, we will see it in a few races’ time.

“Whether or not you actually can make it work I think is more tricky.”

Allison added: “It’s not a rule change, it’s a clarification of the existing rules, and it is tough.

“It is tough to attach to attach a mirror and not make it wobble around and satisfy all the criteria of the technical directive that clarifies what you can and can’t do.”

Under Article 15.2.6 of the F1 technical regulations for 2018, teams are permitted to add fairings so long as they are no more than 20mm away from the Halo structure, with the directive clarifying that mirrors were allowed to be fitted so long as they complied with the regulations.