Mercedes Motorsport boss Toto Wolff wishes he could take a saw to the Halo and cut it off the 2018 car, describing the cockpit protection device as “dreadful”.
Next year, all cars must include the controversial Halo structure after the FIA forced its introduction on safety grounds despite teams initially voting nine-to-one against the move.
Though the German manufacturer came up with the design, Wolff admits it looks out of place on a Formula 1 car and hopes it is just a temporary inclusion before another idea, possibly the Shield, replaces it.
“It’s a dreadful piece!” he told ESPN. “It’s a huge piece of metal, much too heavy, it feels completely alien and I’d like to saw it off if I could!
“Maybe in the future we can find a solution that is a little bit more aesthetically pleasing than the Halo.”
To allow for the Halo, the minimum weight of the 2018 cars has been raised by five kilograms, however, with teams already struggling to reduce the weight due to the power unit, the Austrian claims that really isn’t sufficient.
“With all the bolts and nuts it’s probably 10 kilos that you have up at the highest point in the car,” he explained. “So the centre of gravity moves up a large chunk and you need to compensate for that. So it’s all wrong!”
