Russian Daniil Kvyat was eighth for Red Bull in front of his home fans, while his compatriot Sergey Sirotkin, on his first outing for Renault, was almost one second quicker than Jolyon Palmer in the sister vehicle.
Advertisement
Because the screen resembles a fighter jet canopy, the driver is protected from head-on strikes; think Felipe Massa’s accident at the 2009 Hungarian GP.
The “Aeroscreen” is being proposed as an alternative form of cockpit protection to Halo, with the FIA hoping to adopt one of the designs for 2017.
The Additional Frontal Protection (AFP) structure consists of three curved fins that fan out and appear as vertical pillars in the lower part of a driver’s vision. “If both solutions perform equally well in testing I would be surprised if there’s an overwhelming desire to keep the Halo”.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner stated after the Chinese Grand Prix that the design might be run briefly in Sochi if it passed static testing, which it did this week.
Red Bull claim it has passed all safety tests, releasing a video to show their static tests of the canopy, and believe it is more aesthetically pleasing than the halo.
Race Director Charlie Whiting attended Red Bull’s garage fitting earlier today, and while he remains a supporter of the halo, he admits that it is “a matter of taste”.
Ricciardo said the screen would be removed after one installation lap and he would then continue with the regular practice programme.
The device was being fitted to the Daniel Ricciardo’s vehicle in the pits on Thursday afternoon.
Reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton went as far as saying that it was “the worst looking mod in Formula 1 history” in an Instagram post that was later deleted from his feed.
Advertisement
The Brazilian legend was killed when a suspension arm pierced his helmet after a wheel was torn off in a crash at the San Marino Grand Prix.
