IndyCar on track for cockpit safety device test

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"We've been quietly working on applications for the last year and a half, and feel good at where we're at with progress," Frye told RACER. "We're also happy with the options we'll present and will have something on a car to test between now and the end of the year."

The device, which is meant to reduce the likelihood of a flying object striking a driver's helmet, will continue down a path and introduction timeline that Frye feels is best for the 106-year-old championship. Unlike F1's halo, IndyCar has not committed to a definitive launch date for its cockpit piece.

"We're full-speed ahead and hoping we'll have something to show people sooner rather than later, but the main thing we're aiming for is once we're ready to show it, it will be ready to go," Frye said. "It will have been tested, proven, and ready for use before it comes out. We've already tested it on simulators, and the next stage is to test and prove it in the field."

Compared to the sizeable, wrap-around shield tested by Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel last weekend at the British Grand Prix, IndyCar's version has been described as modest in size while blending into the cockpit opening. Frye's development team has also been working to avoid the dizziness issue Vettel reported after looking through the shield while lapping in his Ferrari SF70H.

"Some of the issues we saw last weekend with distortion is something we've been cognizant of for a while now," he added. "It's something we've been working on so it isn't an issue."

Having read the steady flow of criticism aimed at the halo's limited visual appeal, Frye says IndyCar has done its best to create a piece that serves its safety purpose without disrupting the new, flowing bodywork that will be to be introduced in 2018.

"Aesthetics is something that has been important to us," he said. "We did some bodywork testing last fall, chose a new direction for our 2018 universal bodywork that will start testing next week, and this protection project is something we've always been conscious of as being an integrated part of the car. The best thing you can have is where it's on the car, does what it's supposed to do, and it's blended in and people don't notice it very much. That's' been our approach all along."