FORMULA ONE drivers are furious after bosses ditched plans for the halo protection system for next season.
Star drivers including Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg all led the calls for the canopy design to be introduced.
SunSport understands the majority of the drivers on the grid were won over by a presentation by the sport’s governing body FIA in Budapest last weekend.
However, at a meeting in Geneva today, team bosses met with F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone and FIA president Jean Todt where they voted to delay its launch until more testing had been done.
Speaking before the decision was made, Vettel said: “I don’t think there’s anything really that justifies death.
“We’ve always learnt from incidents that happened on track and we’ve tried to improve.
“If it doesn’t change, then that will be the first time in human history that we’ve learnt the lesson and we don’t change.
“It’s up to us to make sure it does happen otherwise I think we’d be quite stupid.” Mercedes drivers Hamilton and Rosberg also felt the cockpit canopy would have improved safety, given the deaths of Jules Bianchi and Justin Wilson last year due to head injuries.
Hamilton now supports the halo design, despite initially labelling the device the “worst-looking modification in F1 history”.
And Rosberg added: “We had the presentation from the FIA and you can only be for it.
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“I understand people who have something against the halo, I understand the purist and things like that, but nevertheless it’s the right thing to do.” However, the trio’s opinion is not shared across the F1 paddock with British driver Jolyon Palmer and his Renault team-mate Kevin Magnussen.
Palmer said: “Most people I speak to are against it but don’t really voice it in the press.
“I think there’s a bit of a divide, some of the older guys prefer it and the younger guys don’t.
“I’m still against it. The presentation was interesting but I don’t think it really changes much.
“It was confirmed that it wouldn’t have helped Felipe Massa, wouldn’t have helped Jules Bianchi.
“It would have helped Justin Wilson and Henry Surtees but we don’t have those incidents in F1 because we’re not racing on oval tracks.
“It wouldn’t have saved a life in F1 for 20 years or even prevented an injury and there’s other downsides like visibility.
“It could end up we improve safety by having halo, which reduces what is already quite a small chance of any incident happening, and instead we have worse visibility.” Meanwhile, Jenson Button says it is WRONG that Palmer said drivers were not airing their personal views on halo in public.
He hit back saying: “He’s incorrect and it’s very unfair for him to speak for other drivers as well because each individual should speak for themselves on a safety issue.
“We sat down for an hour with the guys from the FIA who developed the halo with Ferrari.
“It’s a great solution, it’s not going to change anything other than when we have flying objects we won’t get killed by them, so it’s always a positive!”
Ecclestone said that the halo system still needed more work. He said: “We’ll have to look into it in more detail.
“When you look at it, it was yes and no – we haven’t really got a lot of positives.”
A statement from the FIA confirmed that cockpit protection would come into effect in 2018.
It said: “The strategy group agreed unanimously that the 2018 season will see the introduction of frontal cockpit protection to enhance the safety of drivers.
“While the halo is currently the preferred option, as it provides the broadest solution to date, the consensus among the strategy group was that another year of development could result in an even more complete solution.”
Meanwhile, F1 teams have also agreed to drop the sport’s controversial radio ban with immediate effect.
Button blasted the “stupid regulation” in Budapest after he was hit with a drive-through penalty after being warned about a brake problem by his team.
But the sport’s rule-makers have seen common sense and now drivers CAN be advised on how to fix problems with their complicated F1 cars.
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