Jenson Button raises 'halo' visibility concerns

Omnisports

September 2, 2016 6:55 AM

The introduction of the halo device has already been delayed until 2018 and it drew a mixed review from McLaren's Jenson Button who tested it at Monza

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The 'halo' head protection device seems no closer to becoming a compulsory safety feature in F1 cockpits after Jenson Button claimed that it affected his vision and fellow-driver Kevin Magnussen insisted that it will never actually be introduced.

Following the Formula One Strategy Group's decision to delay introducing the device until the 2018 season, further testing has been taking place.

Button took part in once such test at Monza, ahead of this weekend's Italian Grand Prix, and the McLaren driver gave it a mixed review.

"The halo trial this morning was OK," he said. "There were no major issues with it.

"Perhaps it could be a little more difficult to see the lights on the start-line and in the pit-stops, but there are still so many possibilities to move things around.

"It feels a little strange, at 200 mph, that instead of focusing on the next corner, you're focusing on something dead ahead of your eyes, which can make you a little cross-eyed."

Renault's Magnussen, meanwhile, is yet to test the Halo, but the Dane remains adamant that it will never become a safety fixture in the sport.

"I don't think it will come in," he said. "I just think now they have delayed it, they will come up with something better.

"The halo isn't going to go on. If it was, then it would come on next year.

"They have obviously seen they can come up with something better and they need more time to do it."

F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone is reputedly opposed to the halo in its current form, while Red Bull boss Christian Horner has described it as "an inelegant solution to the problem it is trying to deal with".

Its proponents, however, claim that the device would reduce the risk of driver fatality by 17 per cent.

Omnisports