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Newey: 'Changes make F1 less safe'

JEREZ, Spain - Formula 1's 2014 regulations may have made the sport more dangerous rather than improving driver safety as intended.

Red Bull's title-winning technical wizard Adrian Newey who designed the Williams that Brazilian triple champion Ayrton Senna died in 20 years ago as the sport's last driver death, voiced his fears at the start of 2014 pre-season testing in southern Spain.

Newey warned that the cars' lower noses, already a talking point because of their ugliness, could lead to a driver's head being more exposed in certain impacts such as front to rear collisions.

'YOU CAN GO UNDERNEATH'

He said: "The regulation was introduced after some research by the International Automobile Federation that suggests the lower nose height reduces the chances of the car being launched, such as the accident Mark (Webber) had when he hit the back of (Heikki) Kovalainen (in Valencia in 2010). I must admit I am concerned the opposite may happen - that cars submarine effectively.

"If you hit the back of the car square on, then you go underneath it and you end up with the rear crash structure in your face which is a much worse scenario. "For me, it's introduced more dangers than it's cured."

He was speaking to reporters before Lewis Hamilton suffered a technical problem and speared his Mercedes into the Jerez tyre wall, with the 2008 champion walking away unscathed.

PITS LANE FIRES

At the Valencia race, Australian Webber clipped the rear wheels of Kovalainen's car and took off almost vertically, flipping and landing with the driver emerging almost miraculously unscathed.

The sport has seen several near-miss incidents since then of cars flying over others, notably Frenchman Romain Grosjean's Lotus skimming over Fernando Alonso's Ferrari in Belgium in 2012. Newey also questioned the repositioning of batteries for the new ERS energy recovery systems which he said could overheat and trigger an uncontrollable blazes with consequent danger for those in the pits lane.

Batteries now have to be positioned in front of the engine and under the fuel tank.

"It was done on safety grounds but I'm not quite sure why putting a battery under the fuel tank is safer than putting it behind the engine but that's where we are," said Newey, and added. "These batteries can suffer thermal runaway through impacts, through causes which are difficult to predict. Once they go into such a big battery pack then it's very difficult to control that fire.

"Frankly, put it in the pits lane and watch it burn."

'BIG CHALLENGE'

While that might not be a driver-safety issue, with plenty of advance warning of such a problem, Newey said it remained a danger for others.

"For the whole of the pits lane, safety is a big challenge with these cars," he added.

F1 tightened up pits safety in 2013 after a TV cameraman was hit on the head by a bouncing wheel that came off Webber's Red Bull at the Nurburgring.

Stay with Wheels24 for the 2014 F1 season – fresh reports every day.
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