FIA Announces New Mandatory Helmet Standards For Formula 1

The Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) has revealed new standards for helmets in Formula 1 that will be mandated from 2019. The new helmet standards have been developed after a decade of research and offer improved safety to the driver including ballistic protection and increased energy absorption over the current helmets on offer. Starting with F1 next season, the new helmet standards will be implemented across other championships as well, the governing body announced earlier this week. The current helmets used in F1 are the best in motorsport safety and it's only encouraging to see new strides being taken to improve driver protection in the high octane sport.

The FIA says that the new helmet standards have been put into effect after working with helmet manufacturers including Still, Bell Racing, Schuberth and Arai during the research phase. The 2019 helmets fall under the new FIA 8860-2018 standards. As part of the upgrades, the new helmet now comes with the visor lowered by 10 mm to incorporate advanced ballistic protection. The FIA says this "achieves unprecedented levels of safety during impact from debris."

The shell construction now uses advanced composite materials to ensure resistance to crushing and penetration. The protection on sides has been extended to offer better compatibility with new single-seater headrests and closed car seat-side head protection systems. This ensures energy management is exactly where the headrests are positioned.

The new helmets have been through vigorous tests including variable crash speeds to account for different accidents and a range of weights to account for different mass headforms.

(The FIA worked with several helmet manufacturers including Bell, Still, Schuberth and Arai)

Speaking on the new helmet standards, the FIA safety director, Laurent Mekies said, "The current top-end helmets are already the safest in the world but the new standard will take them to the next level. It is important for all of our safety research that we continually strive to improve and this is why we are requiring all manufacturers to meet this tougher standard for our championships."

Under the new FIA 8860-2018 standard, all helmets must withstand the following tests:

1. Standard impact: Helmet impact at 9.5m/s. Peak deceleration on 'driver's head' shall not exceed 275G.
2. Low velocity impact: Helmet impact at 6 m/s. Peak deceleration shall not exceed 200G with a maximum average of 180g.
3. Low lateral impact: Helmet impact at 8.5 m/s. Peak deceleration shall not exceed 275G.
4. Advanced Ballistic Protection: A 225g metal projectile fired at 250km/h. The peak deceleration shall not exceed 275G.
5. Crush: A 10kg weight falling 5.1 metres onto helmet. Lateral and longitudinal tests. The transmitted force should not exceed 10 kN.
6. Shell penetration: A 4kg impactor dropped onto helmet at 7.7 m/s.
7. Visor penetration: Air rifle fires 1.2g pellet at visor. Pellet must not penetrate the interior of the helmet.
8. Visor coating: Transmitter test to ensure colouration and vision is not significantly changed or distorted.
9. Retention system: Roll-off test and dynamic test to ensure strength of chin strap and its attachments.
10. Chin guard linear impact: Impact test with full headform at 5.5m/s. The peak deceleration shall not exceed 275G.
11. Chin guard crush: Hammer hits chin guard and measures ability to keep impact away from the head.
12. FHR mechanical strength: Test to ensure high strength of attachment points for Frontal Head Restraints.
13. Projection and surface friction: Test to ensure helmet surface uniformity and that friction is minimised. Shell surface also subjected to BARCOL hardness test for resistance to penetration.
14. Flammability: Helmet exposed to 790 degrees celcius flame; it must self-extinguish once flame is removed.