Perez to get his chance to try Halo at Monza

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Force India's Sergio Perez has said he will get his first opportunity to try out the new Halo cockpit protection device next weekend at Monza, during Friday practice for the Italian Grand Prix.

Perez' team mate Nick Hulkenberg will get his first taste of the device in Spa this morning, along with Mercedes' Nico Rosberg, Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo and Toro Rosso's Carlos Sainz.

"Nico is driving it here and I will try it in Monza," Perez confirmed, adding that it would just be for an installation lap.

Originally scheduled to be introduced next season, the Formula One Strategy Group put back the formal introduction of the Halo by one year until 2018 to allow all drivers to test the device during Formula One race weekends and provide feedback about its development.

Perez added that he continued to support the introduction of the Halo despite growing negative comments about the device from some quarters.

"I think it’s good," he insisted. "I think definitely the Halo is something that at some point will work, it’s just a question of whether it is ready for next year or not, for the coming years.

"But I think it needs more development and it’s good that some teams are pushing, so that’s good. Hopefully we can get it soon.

"Obviously all the teams need some work to adapt it, to be able to run it at full speed and with full loads etc.," he continued.

"We must make sure that firstly we try it on an install, with a couple of installs, and then we see if we can run it longer, because as I say, all the teams require to do some work with the Halo before you run it at full speed."

Perez suggested that Spa might be one of the trickiest circuits for the Halo system to work at, which is what made this weekend's test by his team mate all the more crucial.

"I think here in Spa it will be good. For example Nico is doing the install with it. If there is a circuit where you might struggle, it’s Spa, so it’s a good place to try it."

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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.