Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff believes the FIA had "no choice" but to push the Halo head protection device through for the 2018 season, despite strong opposition.
Formula 1 has been looking to introduce greater head protection following a number of incidents in F1 and other motorsport categories recently. The Halo was a solution put forward by Mercedes, followed by the Red Bull Aeroscreen and then the Shield – which was mostly recently tested last weekend during the British Grand Prix.
Sebastian Vettel completed just a single lap with the Shield fitted to his Ferrari after complaining of feeling "dizzy", which put the brakes on further tests with the device until further development has taken place.
Therefore the Halo has been chosen by the FIA as the most suitable option and despite a reported nine of the ten teams present at the Strategy Group meeting on Wednesday voting against its introduction, the FIA chose to push it through on safety grounds.
Wolff believes they had no other choice but to act after already delaying its introduction by a year.
"I think that probably the FIA had no choice than to introduce the Halo," Wolff said on Thursday. "It is the mandate of the FIA to increase the safety, we have looked at various systems and none of them really worked.
"The Halo was the only one that was just about right."
Wolff admitted he wasn't a fan of how it looked, but said they must live with the FIA's decision.
"I don't like the look of it and the aesthetics, but the decision was made yesterday, now we have to make the best out of it."
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