MOTORSPORT: Closed cockpits way to go – Webber

Motor racing purist Mark Webber has done a U-turn and agrees it’s time to speed up moves to enclose the cockpits of Formula 1 cars.

Nine-time Grand Prix victor Webber, now racing a winning Porsche 919 Hybrid sports car with a roof in the World Endurance Championship, has urged accelerated efforts to find ways to better protect open-top, open-wheeler drivers’ heads.

Motorsport’s governing body, the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), this month will investigate two new options – a 'halo' design created within Mercedes, and an arrangement of vertical fins.

The FIA earlier ruled out jet fighter-style fully-enclosed cockpits because of the difficulties of extracting drivers after bad crashes.

The latest moves come in the wake of the recent deaths of French F1 driver Jules Bianchi and British IndyCar and previously F1 driver Justin Wilson from head injuries incurred in race accidents.

Wilson was briefly Webber’s F1 teammate at the Jaguar team in 2003.

Webber has told the BBC that the time has come to provide greater protection to drivers’ heads.

“I am a purist, but I’d like to see them (F1 cockpits) closed,” he said.

“They (officialdom) are delaying the inevitable now.

“It’s going to come.

“In 10 years it probably will be there, so let’s just bring it forward and find a way that is elegant and safe for extraction.

“There’s enough experts to make that happen.”

At the same time Webber has advocated faster and more extreme F1 cars.

After almost two years of the comparatively quiet and slow V6 hybrids, moves already are afoot for a big horsepower boost and wider tyres from 2017.

Tyres, and especially the need for drivers to “nurse” them through F1 races, have been a particular gripe of Webber.

“The drivers want cars that are more demanding,” he said.

“It’s a bit like being an F-18 fighter pilot but flying for British Airways.

“They (F1 drivers) are within their comfort zone, pacing races. It’s frustrating.

“F1 should be the pinnacle. It should be by far the fastest through the corners, physical on the drivers, and things where the drivers are gladiators again.

“The car still needs to be something the fans have never seen anything like before.

“There’s so many categories which are close to them now (including the Le Mans prototype sports cars and Renault 3.5 open-wheelers).”