“I have changed my mind” Wolff on the halo

Mercedes F1 team principal Toto Wolff’s opinion has changed on the ‘halo’ device in Formula 1 after the incident between Charles Leclerc and Fernando Alonso at the 2018 Belgian GP.

The incident, in which Alonso’s car collided with Nico Hulkenberg and then went over the top of Leclerc’s Sauber, was investigated by the FIA and deemed that the Leclerc would have suffered a serious injury had the halo not been there.

This was enough to changed Wolff’s opinion about the halo device after not being a fan of it at first.

"Yes, I have changed my mind, I still don't like the aesthetics of it, and I hope we can find a solution in the future that looks good.” Wolff said according to RaceFans.

"[But] I really like Charles, he's a young, upcoming racer that deserves to be in Formula 1 and I would not have forgiven myself if we would have voted against the halo and it would have failed, and we'd have had a severe incident with a potentially catastrophic outcome.”

"So, even though it's aesthetically not what I like it's a super initiative that has shown its merit. I'm happy that Jean [Todt, the FIA president] pushed through and they didn't give me a chainsaw at the beginning of the season.”

"We need to get the right balance between aesthetics and safety. I personally like the closed canopies like fighter jets. Between the teams and the FIA and the commercial rights holder, we just need to work proactively and in a collaborative manner to find solutions that look great and save lives."