Decision time for the Halo

F1 will vote on whether or not to introduce the Halo in 2017 at a Strategy Group meeting in Geneva later today.

Team bosses as well as FIA president Jean Todt and commercial rights holder Bernie Ecclestone are due to discuss the cockpit protection device during the latest meeting. The device has been splitting opinion, with some figures in F1 believing it is being rushed through and has yet to be properly developed and analysed.

The six teams in the Strategy Group - Ferrari, Mercedes, Red Bull, McLaren, Williams and Force India - will vote on whether the Halo should be introduced next year later today. A unanimous vote is required, and should it be received then the concept will have to also receive the approval of the F1 Commission and the World Motor Sport Council.

If the FIA does not gain unanimous support for the Halo during today’s meeting, it could still force through its introduction on safety grounds. However, Todt prefers to take a democratic approach and hopes to be able to convince the teams to approve the device for 2017 through the normal channels.

The F1 drivers were shown a presentation on the device during the driver briefing in Hungary last Friday, documenting a number of serious accidents in single seater racing to show what impact the Halo might have.

FEATURE: Halo: Splitting opinion in F1

Scene at the 2016 Hungarian Grand Prix

Hungarian Grand Prix - Quotes of the week

Technical analysis - Budapest

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.