When you are a triple world champion like Sir Jackie Stewart, you have earned your right to comment on the recent changes to Formula One and most would do well to listen. With the FIA deciding that the halo shield will be compulsory for the 2018 season, it is an addition that everyone will have to accept for the time being. Whether they like how it looks, or not.

Sir Jackie drove at a time when there was a two-in-three chance of dying due to injuries caused by a crash, so he knows intimately the risks involved, with 14 and 12 deaths in Formula One in the 1960s and 1970s respectively. As time has passed, the risk of fatalities has decreased and there were none for 21 years until the death of Jules Bianchi in 2015.

He knows from experience the importance of being proactive when it comes to safety. It was after his own accident that he started the fight for better safety measures, and he sees the halo as the next logical step.

He said: “Preventive medicine is better than corrective medicine. But the key thing with the halo is that in the case that a driver is trapped or unconscious, the halo doesn’t prevent easy removal. It is imperative that it doesn’t prevent the driver exiting the cockpit or people getting to them if they are unconscious.