Philippe Bianchi – father of the late Formula One driver Jules Bianchi – believes the Halo system is a positive step but still isn’t enough to save lives.
Bianchi lost his son Jules after an accident at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix where he lost control of his car and crashed into a recovery vehicle suffering severe head injuries.
Jules died nine months after his accident and the push for a higher demand for safety in F1 was brought forward by the drivers.
Ferrari were the first team to test the Halo system on Thursday morning, Kimi Raikkonen said visibility was ‘ok’ and Sebastian Vettel was all in favour of the device.
Bianchi however, does not believe his son would have survived his impact had the Halo been in place and wants the FIA to push forward in cockpit safety.
“I consider that this is a step forward in term of security,” he said in an interview with Canal+.
“It is obvious that in the case of when a wheel comes off, this system would be effective.
“However, in the case of small debris, as Felipe Massa and Justin Wilson had, that wouldn’t have changed anything. So this is a step forward, but it does not solve everything.
“For Jules, it would not have changed nothing, because it’s the extremely violent deceleration that caused the damage that we know to his brain.
“I think developments of the HANS system to better absorb big deceleration in a severe impact, could help in this case.”
Bianchi was also not convinced by the ascetics of the Halo calling it “pretty bad”, and was also concerned about the viability behind the wheel.
“This is obviously not me who would raise myself against something that brings more security to drivers, but the version of this ‘Halo’ system did not convince me and has yet to be perfected.
“Aesthetically, it’s pretty bad, and I wonder what the driver get to see behind the ‘Halo’.
“The FIA wished to act after Jules’s and Justin’s accidents, but it must go further.”
