The reigning champion's comments were a response to him first seeing pictures of Red Bull's 'Aeroscreen' head protection device, which will be used in FP1 on Friday.

"When I get in my car I know that there is a danger," Hamilton said.

"That's been the same since I was eight years old, and that's a risk that I am willing to take. And that's the risk that every single driver who has ever got in a car has been willing to take."

He added: "The reason you look as a kid of F1, it's 'these guys, they're crazy. They could die at any moment.' Everyone who comes to me, who's just started watching F1, they go: 'it's so dangerous.'

"That's a large part of why they are so in awe of what you do. You take away all that, and that person could do it, almost. What's the point if anyone can do it?"

Not a fan of the Aeroscreen

Hamilton made it clear that he doesn't like the Red Bull solution, although he offered his support for safety improvements in general.

"If they're going to do this, close the cockpit like a fighter jet. That screen looks like something from... It looks like a shield that the police use, a riot shield.

"You've got this cool, elegant, futuristic F1 car, and you've got a crappy riot shield sitting on top of it.

"The other one [the Halo], carbon fibre, the structure was obviously good, but Fernando wouldn't have been able to get out of the car potentially in his crash in Melbourne.

"On top of that, it is a good thing to see that the FIA do take safety seriously, it is a constant thing that always need to be worked on, as long as it doesn't affect hopefully the aesthetics and style and coolness of F1."