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McLaren driver Fernando Alonso says “there should not be any debate” about the halo cockpit protection device introduced for the 2018 Formula 1 season.
The halo, which was pushed through by the FIA on safety grounds, has been widely criticised, with Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff saying this week he would remove it “with a chainsaw” if he could.
Asked whether everyone would forget about the device a few races into 2018, Alonso told Sky Sports: “Yeah, I’m sure of that.
“And again, this is a safety device, it’s head protection for the drivers, so there should not be any debate on that, as long as it’s a safety device.
“Yeah, aesthetics aren’t the best at the moment, and in the future I’m sure that the sport and the teams will find a way to make it a little bit nicer, for the fans, and for the cars to look a little bit better.”
Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel expressed a similar sentiment during the launch of his team’s new halo-fitted SF71H car.
“During the seat fit it was okay,” Vettel said. “It was actually less intrusive than I thought.
“So I’m looking forward to getting out on the track. I’m pretty sure that everyone will get used to it.”
Speaking on his Red Bull team’s website, Daniel Ricciardo suggested that the addition of the halo was a less dramatic change of aesthetics than the move to narrower, taller rear wings back in 2009.
“I think it’s going to be alright,” he wrote. “Don’t get me wrong, I don’t love the look of it, but I think it’ll be fine and we’ll have other things to talk about pretty quickly, especially once the racing starts and we have the championship beginning to take shape.
“Remember back in 2009, the year that Brawn won the championship, and the cars that year looked so different with the small rear wings, almost like F3 cars?
“People threw their hands up and talked about it a lot at the start, but then we all got used to it and just moved on.
“I reckon the 2009 look was more dramatic than the halo and how long it’ll take people to get used to it.”