According to a questionable report from the UK media on Friday, Formula One drivers have reportedly turned down a proposal from the FIA to bring in cockpit 'screens' to help protect drivers from being struck by debris during races.
The brief report from the UK Daily Mirror newspaper suggests that the FIA had proposed to bring in special "poly-carbonate screens" as part of car designs for the future.
The suggestion that F1 was considering using some form of 'windscreen' was first reported back in December last year.
The FIA Institute has recently been testing out cockpit plans, basing their designs on fighter jet technology, and recently released a video of the material being tested.
The poly-carbonate screen held up without any damage from an impact with a tyre propelled towards it.
But the report claimed that drivers had rejected the plan, believing that the cockpit canopy "could prevent escape in the event of a car overturning or catching fire".
It also suggested that the proposal could place spectators "at danger from flying debris ricocheting off the screens".
The FIA plan was likely in reaction to recent accidents such as Felipe Massa's during qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix in 2009.
Massa was struck on the helmet by a piece of suspension from Rubens Barrichello's Brawn GP car at 170mph at the Hungaroring. The impact knocked him unconscious and left him with severe concussion and a fractured skull.
The Brazilian went on to miss the rest of the 2009 season as he recovered from the accident.
Massa's accident followed the death of Henry Surtees during a Formula Two race at Brands Hatch, when he was struck on the head by a wheel from another competitor.
After the two crashes, the FIA promised to investigate the situation, with Brawn GP boss Ross Brawn warning against any "kneejerk" solutions.
"We need to digest what's happened and understand it properly," Brawn said after the Massa accident, "It is time to look at the whole thing and take a balanced approach."
He added: "You can have covers or canopies but you have to be able to get at the driver and extract him if there is an accident.
"And you don't want anything that collapses down on a driver.
"It is something we will look at. In the history of F1 it is a fairly rare occurrence, but we must take it seriously and see what we can do.
"If there's a need to react, I'm sure F1 will promptly. But we must make sure we don't do something that makes the situation worse."
McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh added: "Obviously what happened [with Massa] was a shock for all of us, and we've got to make sure we do everything we can.
"The helmets are better than they were in 1994 [following the death of Ayrton Senna].
"Maybe we can improve [helmets], but having said that, a spring coming off a car and being in a collision four seconds later.,.It must have bounced five or six times, and for it to still be on the racing line is an incredible circumstance and coincidence."
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