McLaren’s chief of aerodynamics Peter 𒊎Pr𓆉odromou says the installation of the new Halo safety device will provide short-term chances for performance jumps in Formula 1 at the start of 2018.

Prodromou has confirmed McLaren’s MCL33 has passed all FIA safety tests at its first attempt iꦍncluding new tests for the Halo cockpit protector which becomes a mandatory safety piece for F1 cars this year.

While the challenges faced integrating the Halo efficiently has ‘excited’ the engineering brains at McLaren, Prodromou predicts a variety of different fairings experimented with by F1 t🐈eams when get🎉ting up to speed with the new device.

The ⛎McLaren aerodynamics boss believes any F1 team could find a performance gain tweaking the aero impact of tꦜhe Halo regarding air intake for the engine as well as added downforce potential.

“Aero wise it is certainly not penalty free and I think there is a challeng꧙e to either cope with it in the first insistence, let’s call it damage limitation,” Prodromou said. “Thereafter I think it is about opportunity and ex༒ploitation. It does open up some avenues which are possibly interesting to look out.

“I am sure there will be a variety of different solutions out there but the scope is quite limited to the allowance around the basic shape🔯 but there is opportunity there.

“Everyone is going to be faced with how it impacts the flow into the engine and the flow into certain cooling ducts in🦩 that area, including ourselves, as well as the flow to the rear wing. On the flipside there may be opportunities to tap into which you couldn’t before.”

However, Prodromou has played down the lasting advantage of the Halo in terms of aerodynamic per🔯formance as he expects all F1 teams to catch-up with each other by the middle of the 2018 season.

“The advantage is likelyꦆ to be short-lived with the rest of the field catching up midway through the season,” he said. “I’d probably give it half a se🎃ason and I imagine everyone will have converged, that would be my rough guess.”

♑𝕴In IndyCar, an alternative to the Halo - the windscreen - has passed its first tests on track at Phoenix last Thursday which is made of a proprietary Opticor advanced transparency material used to produce fighter jet canopies. It passed initial tests on how it impacted vision through the proto🃏type in varying light conditio🤪ns.