Halo in danger of distorting F1 - Alain Prost

Alain Prost is the latest high-profile figure to speak out against Formula One's new halo head protection system.

Formula One legend Alain Prost believes eliminating risk from the sport is a "dangerous" strategy that could "distort" the competition.

Cars will feature the new halo head protection system for the first time in 2018 but the contraption has been met by a mixed response, with Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff joking that he would remove it with a chainsaw given the chance.

Those sentiments have been echoed by Prost - a four-time world champion and special adviser to the Renault F1 team.

"I don't like it at all," he told Omnisport. "For a lot of reasons. For aesthetics, it changes the nature of the single-seater car.

"But if it brings a little more security, that's fine. Now that it’s here, we have to deal with it. But it's not something I appreciate.

"We can always improve things. But we must not distort what Formula One is. 

"I think it's a little dangerous to want the risk at zero when we're in motorsport.

"[But] when we talk about a man's life, we cannot be against security.

"We have to accept it. It's been set up. Maybe there will be other ideas in the future that will be more aesthetic than those."