Red Bull Chief Technical Officer Adrian Newey believes Formula 1 could have come up with a better answer to cockpit safety than the "clumsy" Halo device which will be introduced in 2018.

The well-respected designer was one of the key minds behind the Milton Keynes outfit's own concept of the Aeroscreen, which they unveiled in Sochi in 2016 but ultimately didn't fair as well as the Halo in FIA testing.

And offering his view on the controversial subject, admitted he did agree with the push towards greater safety based on his own experiences during his time in F1 but had reservations on the chosen path taken.

"I have to admit I do have mixed feelings on the Halo," Newey told Sky Sports. "On the one hand, I do feel that anything you can do to make a car safer is a good thing.

"When somebody gets' really seriously injured or dies that it is horrific. I attended Justin Wilson's funeral three years ago, and to see the grief on the family's faces was terrible so if it helps to make the car safer, that has to be applauded.

"The engineer in me says that it just seems to be such a clumsy and ugly solution, it just feels as if we ought to be able to do something better than that."

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All but one of the 10 F1 teams voted against including Halo in the regulations for next season at a Strategy Group meeting in July but, pointing to past agreements and likely legal ramifications, the governing body went against the majority to force it through on safety grounds.

The FIA has also insisted research will continue into other ideas, including the Shield which Sebastian Vettel used at Silverstone, and Newey believes that should be the case highlighting a key factor that needs taking into consideration.

"I think there needs to be more research," he added. "Probably a canopy would be visually more attractive, but then it's closed-cockpit racing.

"What is important is whatever F1 does has to be affordable for the lower formulae, because the bottom line is why should a Formula Ford driver's life be valued less than an F1 drivers' life?

"We have to find a solution that can be carried across, but there's no escaping it's ugly. The aesthetic artist in me finds that offensive."