Ricciardo says not exploring cockpit protection "disrespectful"

Ricciardo became the first driver to test the new Aeroscreen system on track when he completed an installation lap in practice for the Russian Grand Prix on Friday.

Aeroscreen is Red Bull's alternative to the Halo system tried by Ferrari during pre-season testing, and the FIA plans to introduce a version of either next year.

The concepts are very different from Formula 1 convention, but Ricciardo reckons the sport and the fans must give a fair chance to cockpit protection.

"The talk has been about the open cockpit and that is what people know F1 for, and that is fair enough," said Ricciardo.

"It would be great to keep it that way but obviously with accidents that have happened, especially more recently, I think at least not to explore this route seems a bit disrespectful, I would say.

"If this became a norm, I think everyone will get used to it. I don't think it is as bad as some people are saying. I think it could happen quite easily."

Visibility fine

The Red Bull driver said that, while it was strange sitting in the cockpit with the device on, visibility was not an issue.

"It was a little bit different not having the wind on you, so the engine and everything sounded different," Ricciardo added. "You don't have the interference with the wind.

"In all honesty the vision is fine, that seemed okay, so the first impressions were fine. It was definitely driveable.

"Obviously where we have the structure in place it is pretty much where the mirrors are so I would not say you are hindered any more than we are now through visibility.

"It is obviously a bit different having that in front of you. Generally it was as good as it could have gone today.

Further tests

Ricciardo reckons Red Bull will carry out more testing on different tracks in order to continue evaluating it.

"I think the plan is to probably try it again. Maybe on a different circuit with some different scenery, maybe with a bit more undulation, something like that.

"A night circuit with the lights could be interesting, how it reflects off the shield. We will probably give it a bit more running but the first impression was actually quite good.

"You hop in, it feels weird and for sure it doesn't feel normal, but once I got going, it was fine. I had a Ferrari in front and you could still see where they were and lines and that sort of thing, so visibility seemed pretty good."

Teammate Daniil Kvyat, meanwhile, believes Red Bull's option is probably the most attractive way to go about cockpit protection.

"I'm a bit 50/50 about it," he said. "Of the options which we saw, generally it's the best looking for sure, in terms of head protection.

"We'll have to see if the fans will accept it or not, I think that's very important nowadays that we don't take away too much from the old-fashioned look. If people can live with that it's fine but we have to do a lot of analysis."

Additional reporting by Jonathan Noble