Red Bull wants to put windscreens on F1 cars

As Fernando Alonso's spectacular crash – that he thankfully walked away from – proved over the weekend, Formula One is still a dangerous game. The biggest point of contention currently rumbling around the paddock is how to best protect an F1 driver’s head.

Earlier this year, while testing in Spain, Kimi Raikkonen completed the first-ever public run of an F1 car fitted with a ‘halo’ protection system.

The halo – a Mercedes concept – is currently the FIA’s preferred solution of protecting driver’s heads set for potential introduction in 2017.

Now Red Bull has released images of an alternative protective canopy device: a windscreen.

Differing from Merc and Ferrari’s carbon fibre ‘halo’, the wrap-around acrylic screen has two side supports to the side of the nose rather than one central pillar in front of the driver.

The design is intended to minimise intrusion into the driver's eyeline – helped by not having a pillar in front of your nose – while also providing protection for big bits of debris and other forms of smaller debris. Though with the top exposed, it’s not a completely closed cockpit.

Red Bull state that its canopy will undergo extensive study in the coming months. But what would you rather see on the front of an F1 car: Red Bull’s windscreen, or the FIA-favoured halo? Let us know below.