McLaren's chief aerodynamicist Peter Prodromou says the new Halo cockpit protection device opens up opportunities to gain aerodynamic performance as well as having some obvious downsides.
The Halo will be mandatory on all F1 cars this year and is designed to offer extra head protection for drivers. The titanium structure will be the same on all cars, but designers have been given a small amount of leeway under the regulations to shroud the Halo in a bespoke carbon fibre fairing.
Those fairings can be used to direct airflow to cooling ducts and aero-sensitive parts of the car, and while Prodromou says the first priority will be minimising lost performance, it will also open up new avenues of aerodynamic development.