Mercedes boss Wolff: 'I'd take halo off if you gave me a chainsaw'
Toto Wolff is not happy with how the new halo system looks on his Mercedes cars and would like to take drastic action.
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff has joked that he would remove Formula One's new halo head protection system with a chainsaw, given the chance.
Halo introduced to F1 as additional safety measure
The contraption has been introduced to the sport for the 2018 season to offer more protection to drivers in the cockpit and is said to be able to bear the weight of a double-decker bus.
However, Wolff believes the desired safety improvements could have been achieved by other, more aesthetically pleasing means.
"I'm not impressed with the whole thing, and if you gave me a chainsaw I would take it off," he said at the launch of the Mercedes W09.
"I think we need to look after the drivers' safety, but what we have implemented is aesthetically not appealing. We need to come up with a solution that simply looks better.
"It's a massive weight on the top of the car and you screw up the centre of gravity massively with the thing.
"And as much as it's impressive to look at the statistic that you could put a bus on top... this is a Formula One car, and whether you can put a bus on top [is pointless]."
And a closer look at that halo... #F1 #W09 @OmnisportNews pic.twitter.com/eXO7lwZaYe — Jack Davies (@rj_davies) February 22, 2018
But four-time world champion Lewis Hamilton thinks drivers will soon get used to the halo.
"I think the team have done a really good job to integrate it and make it look as nice as it can look," Hamilton added.
"It's something we've known for some time now that it's been coming and I think after a few races we'll forget that it's even there.
"And I'm sure we'll look back at the old car... we often look at the old cars and they look so dated.
"This is the new world now. It's heavy, but it's streamlined as much as it can be."