James Key believes the Halo will look a lot more refined and more ‘Formula 1’ than what has been seen during its on-track tests in the past two seasons, mainly thanks to the design of its aerodynamic fairings.
The Halo becomes mandatory to all teams in 2018 but has received a lot of criticism about the way it looks and how ‘un-F1’ it appears, but Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda’s technical director Key says that their own design with its allowed fairings and winglets will be more pleasing on the eye.
“We’ll have to see how it goes,” said Key to RACER. “I think with the aero bits on it then it will look slightly more Formula 1, let’s say, than the frames we saw before.
“They will be a little bit more refined visually, because teams have had time to work a bit on optimizing the aerodynamics around them.”
Key believes people will quickly get used to seeing the Halo on the cars and will refocus their attention on the racing, although the differing opinions of the head protection system are likely to be ongoing.
“My gut feeling is it’s something we’ll just get used to,” said Key. “There will be talk and all sorts of opinions I’m sure – all of them no doubt valid – but I think ultimately it’s just something we’ll get used to, and we’ll get back to worrying about the racing pretty quickly.”
