Red Bull has solutions in mind for keeping F1 aeroscreen clear

Red Bull's cockpit protection design broke cover in the Sochi pitlane on Thursday ahead of the Russian Grand Prix, with Ricciardo sitting in his car to get a feel for the device before he completes a lap with it attached to the RB12 during first practice on Friday.

One of the potential drawbacks of the solution compared to the halo design tried by Ferrari during pre-season testing could be visibility in wet races or if the screen picks up other fluids and dirt on track.

"That's something I asked about," Ricciardo told the media at Sochi on Thursday.

"A quick one for now is during pitstops you'd have a tear-off system - NASCAR has something similar.

"And you can get these coatings on the screens which work a bit like Rain-X on your visor, so stuff just floats off.

"So oils and liquids will get dispersed quite quickly.

"There's a few short-term things which they could do tomorrow if they needed to."

Ricciardo does not expect the aeroscreen to impair his vision on track, but he accepted that looking through it on a moving car could give a different perspective to sitting in the garage.

"First impressions seem OK," he said. "The structure is in line with the mirrors, so it doesn't block any more vision than we have already.

"The front is pretty open - you have the structure at the top but that's pretty high so it's out of your eyeline anyway.

"You definitely want to put it on track and check though.

"It looks pretty clean for now, they've done a good job, but we'll see how it is when it's going at speed."

The Australian believes the safety argument outweighs any claims that F1 should remain completely open-cockpit.

"It's different - you're used to seeing helmets, that's the only thing the spectator can see of the driver," he said.

"But let's see. I've been for it because of the safety.

"If it saves even one life over the next 20 years then you're going to take it.

"We've just got to be open to a bit of change.

"People will just get on with it, and if we're all running it you'll quickly adapt as a fan and you'll understand."