Max Verstappen is worried that the heavy nature of the Halo head protection device could penalise the heavier drivers on the Formula 1 grid, including him.
The Aston Martin Red Bull Racing driver is amongst the tallest drivers on the grid, with only Nico Hülkenberg and Esteban Ocon shading him, but as it has been in recent years, the taller, and therefore heavier drivers, will be penalised.
“The Halo is quite heavy – I think it’s more than six kilograms,” said Verstappen on RACER. “I think it’s definitely not favourable for me, but I’m not going to change my training for it, because otherwise I won’t feel well during the races.
“For me being a taller driver, and also a bit of a heavier driver than most, it’s definitely not ideal.”
As well as the weight issues, Verstappen is expecting the halo to be aesthetically ugly, and although he hopes the rest of the RB14 looks better, he is more hopeful that it will be quick out of the box, and Red Bull will not be playing catch up as they did during 2017.
“The halo that will be very ugly – not looking forward to that,” admitted Verstappen. “I hope the [rest of the] car will look great. Hopefully it’s going to be fast.
“Hopefully it’s a good step forward that we get straight away; a really good car from the beginning of the year, and not really chasing like we did last year. That’s the most important for us.”
