Vettel says ‘Shield’ distorted his vision

It appears the hideous looking 'Shield' is a failure right out of the box.

Ferrari had to cut short a test of Formula 1's latest head protection device, dubbed the 'shield', because it made Sebastian Vettel feel "a bit dizzy".

The German was tasked with trialling the new device, which is a large curved screen which wraps around the cockpit, during first practice for the British Grand Prix. But Vettel completed just a single lap at slow pace, despite plans to do several laps at varying speeds.

"I tried it this morning, I got a bit dizzy," said Vettel. "Forward vision is not very good.

"I think it’s because of the curvature, you get quite a bit of distortion. Plus you get quite a bit of downwash down the straight pushing the helmet forward.

"We had a run planned with it but I didn’t like it so we took it off."

Vettel doesn't believe the shield will have a major impact on driver extrication though, unlike the Halo, the device which was extensively trialled during the 2016 campaign.

"Getting in doesn’t matter, I think getting out it’s more about getting used to it, it’s not the main thing."