Allowing for factors such as temperatures and track resurfacing, as anticipated the new regulations this year saw lap speeds increase with official lap (race) records broken at ten of the twenty events.

Next season however, according to Pirelli, the cars should be around 2s quicker, which could mean the remaining track records are all broken.

"At the beginning of next year they should be quicker by one second per lap," said the Italian manufacturer's head of car racing, Mario Isola, according to Motorsport.com, "and during a year the normal rate of development is 1 to 1.5 seconds, so by the end of next year they should be quicker by two seconds per lap.

"If we go softer with the tyres, the cars could be ever quicker," he added. "But we have to remember that there is an additional weight with the Halo, and that will cost about three to four tenths of a second, because of the weight plus aero implications."

While the weight limit has been increased by 6kgs in order to accommodate the Halo, the required mountings, not to mention modifications in order that the device passes the mandatory load test, are said to have added as much as 14kgs.

Consequently, with it widely accepted that 10kg is worth around a third of a second, there are already fears that the bigger, heavier drivers will be compromised.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by FormerF1Fan, 15/12/2017 17:00

"When someone asks me something that I don't understand, or ask a nonsencical question, or say something that is just daft, I always answer: "It's just down the corridor on the right". And I see that the FIA has just adopted my strategy..."

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2. Posted by Ro, 15/12/2017 15:52

"All you need to do ios look at the Indy cars' front wings. Thats why they can run very close to the car in front. Get rid of the "Batman" wings, front and rear and we will have "RACING" again"

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3. Posted by TokyoAussie, 15/12/2017 15:04

"Two seconds faster, but without any aero changes to allow cars to close the gap on the car in front? Sounds like a recipe for further boredom. It's simple physics. Cars need to have a significant speed differential in order to make it past another car in the space available. The quicker the cars, the greater the speed differential needs to be. So passing will be even more difficult. Way to go, F1!"

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Cars expected to be 2s quicker in 2018

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