While nobody is going to argue with the need to protect drivers as much as possible, especially in light of the accidents in recent years which have robbed motorsport of a number of talents, many feel the whole thing could have been handled better.

Days ago, at the launch of his team's contender, Toto Wolff admitted that he would dearly love to take a chainsaw to the device, the Austrian feeling it blights the look of the W09.

While Fernando Alonso admits that the aesthetics could be better however, the Spaniard insists the introduction of the Halo is not up for debate.

"Yeah, I'm sure of that," he told Sky Sports when asked if he thinks fans will get used to the device.

"Again, this is a device that's a safety device," he continued, "it's head protection for the drivers, so there should not be any debate on that, as long as it's a safety device.

"The aesthetics aren't the best at the moment," he admitted, "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, you know, and for the cars to look a little bit better."

Writing on the Red Bull website, Daniel Ricciardo was equally defensive of the controversial device.

"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," he continued, "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."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Uffen, 25/02/2018 17:18

"I understand your point, Anthony. We do get used to things but when some sport that is trying to attract fans responds to a dislike by saying "get used to it," to me shows signs of excess ego - because there are more palatable alternatives.
Ironically you prefer riskier cars.
I believe you're correct that safety progresses; I also believe that as it progresses motor sport will slowly fade away, certainly to a "much reduced form" as you mention. "

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2. Posted by Anthony, 24/02/2018 20:53

"I’m looking forward to seeing what they look like in real life when I go to the Barcelona test in March.

I think that “get used to it” is sometimes a reasonable response. My favourite races at the Goodwood Revival are the Goodwood trophy with the pre war ERAs and the Richmond trophy for 1950s GP cars such as the Maserati 250F and Ferrari Dino 246, but it is inconceivable that anyone would expect modern cars to expose the driver to that level of risk. The halo is simply the natural progression of improvements in safety over the last 50 or so years and without these improvements I suspect that the sport that we enjoy would exist in a much reduced form (if at all)."

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3. Posted by ryanhellyer, 24/02/2018 18:37

"Daniels comments about the stupid wing sizes doesn't make sense to me. People learned to tolerate them. They always looked stupid and that did not change over time. People will learn to tolerate the look of the Halo, but that doesn't mean the problem of it looking stupid goes away. It still looks stupid, not matter how long they run them for."

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4. Posted by Uffen, 24/02/2018 16:27

"I detest the "we'll get used to it," arguments. The idea is weak and shallow. We can "get used" to anything. Boring racing, for example. The drivers complained about useless tires, Why didn't they just "get used to it"? "Getting used to it" is not a solution for much at all. Hate the sound of the current engines? Get used to it. See? No help at all.
So, yes, we'll get used to the halo but F1 depends on more than that. It depends on fans actually liking what they see and hear. "

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