Chester admits timing of Halo introduction "a little bit painful"

Renault's technical director Nick Chester says that the FIA's timing to introduce the Halo device for 2018 is a little painful. Most teams are in the final stages of developing the chassis for next year's car. After the British Grand Prix, Formula 1's governing body announced that the device would be used next season.

The Halo will be a standard part, but teams are allowed to add fairings to aid aerodynamic streamlining. While the decision to introduce it has caused outrage from many fans who are upset over how it looks, Chester is more worried about the overall design of the new cars and the time they have been left to integrate the safety device.

"It knocks on big time to the chassis definition," Chester said. "It's a little bit painful as we're right into that process of trying to finalise our chassis schemes. The loadings from it are quite big. It affects all the structure in the chassis. It has quite a big impact. Outside the chassis, it won't have much of an effect on car performance. It's just the actual design of the chassis to take the loads which is difficult."

Fergal Walsh