In thinking that we entrust the absolutely most precious thing we have, our head, to the quality of a helmet here are a few necessary considerations that must be made in terms of “How much does it cost me?” and “After how many years will I have to change it, aside from Homologation?” A Motorsport helmet has a hefty price, even if minimal compared to the costs of a sport that - like it or not - already foresees costs that are unfortunately inaccessible for some. Every five years, the Homologations, be they FIA or Snell, raise the bar, most of the time as said on the basis of real cases and accidents whereby it was found that the helmet could have done more.
The helmet involves several dynamics and in its design or engineering there is nothing trivial or left to chance: the forces implied are not just the ones related to the classic “crash impact”. A helmet is involved also in the Hans system functioning, or the Halo, or unexpected flying objects (as in Massa’s incident) or whatever you cannot foresee in the design phase. With the (initially) muchdiscussed and resistance to the introduction of the Halo, further protection was added to the driver’s head, but potentially dangerous imponderables often manage to surprise even the most scrupulous designers and engineers.