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Difficult to apply ‘immature’ Shield for F1 2018 - Horner

The controversial 'Shield' concept will be 'difficult' for even a big budget team to apply to a 2018 F1 chassis even if the FIA decided to go ahead with the device now, according to Christian Horner.

The revised concept made its public debut on the Ferrari during first free practice for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, but the planned run of several laps was curtailed to just a single installation lap when Sebastian Vettel complained of issues with both vision and aero pressure on his head.

A potentially big set-back for the new device, which has been propositioned instead of the divisive Halo that was tested in 2016, the disappointing feedback will potentially force the FIA to delay a decision on introducing it until 2019.

Indeed, though this is the first outing for the Shield, Horner suggests even a successful run out and decision on its use right now would still create a challenge for designers as they begin turning attentions to 2018.

"About 2 months ago," he said when asked when he'd liked to have had a decision made already. "So these things have, particularly the shield or the screen, you could hear him saying that it was pushing his head forward and playing around with the aerodynamics quite significantly, so those things take a bit of time to get on top for a big team like Red Bull Racing, so I can only imagine the difficulty that would present for a lesser equipped team."

The Shield is expected to be debated in today's [Wednesday] Strategy Group meeting, with more outings planned this year, most likely the Italian Grand Prix at Monza in September. However, Horner believes it still requires much development to be pushed for an imminent introduction.

"Based on the comments I've read from Sebastian it didn't sound to be too popular. It feels immature in its concept at the moment to introduce for next year. I am sure it will be discussed at the strategy group."

Zdroj: crash.net