Hulkenberg still not sold on halo

Nico Hulkenberg says he still has "mixed feelings" about the halo device, despite seeing it save Charles Leclerc from likely injury in a crash he caused at the Belgian Grand Prix. Hulkenberg sent Fernando Alonso flying over the cockpit of Leclerc's car at Spa-Francorchamps, with footage suggesting one of the McLaren's tyres had been deflected away from the Sauber driver's head.

Alonso, a staunch defender of the halo, said that the safety device had proven its worth in the incident.

Hulkenberg was among the halo's fiercest critics in pre-season, amid fears over the aesthetic drawbacks and potentially diluting F1 as an open-cockpit series, and the German is yet to have his mind fully changed, despite the incident.

"I think whilst I am still not a big fan of halo and the device, I have to see the facts and admit that it does bring something to F1, especially the safety we appreciate in the car," he said.

"So, divided, mixed feelings about it still, but it is not down to me anyway, and it is what it is.

VIDEO: Astonishing new footage of Alonso-Leclerc crash released

"For sure it has proven pretty useful and a good device. We can only speculate on what would have happened without it, but it looks pretty clear from the point the tyre marks were all over the halo.

"So from that point of view it has done a very good job to keep the head safe."

Leclerc steered clear of confirming if he had been saved and surprisingly claimed that the magnitude of the incident had not translated to the cockpit.

"If it has helped or not in Spa I have no idea but in some circumstances it can help," he said. "So I think it's a good thing to have.

"To be honest it looked a lot bigger on TV than it actually was. I felt, obviously, Fernando going over me. But it was not like it was a big, big shock.

"The only thing I had in my mind is I was just hoping for some miracle that the car was not damaged enough to go back to the pits. But obviously when I looked in my mirrors again I saw everything was gone so I couldn't. I just found a way to stop the car and that's it.

"The images look very spectacular but from inside the car it was not such a big shunt."