F1 figures have admitted they are not keen on proposals to put a roof above the heads of the sport’s drivers.

After the incidents involving Felipe Massa and the late Henry Surtees in 2009, technical chiefs started looking into the possibility of jet fighter-style canopies or polycarbonate screens for the cars’ cockpits.

The FIA has released a video (http://vimeo.com/26098946) showing a F1 wheel being fired at 225kph at a jet-fighter canopy and a proposed cockpit screen.

“Full scientific results of the firings … have now been presented to the formula one technical working group,” the video revealed.

1992 world champion and occasional F1 steward Nigel Mansell admitted: “I don’t know if I’d like to see that. It wouldn’t really be formula one,” he is quoted by ennstal-classic.at.

Another former driver Marc Surer agrees: “It would be very warm in there, and then the next problem is needing an air conditioner. And imagine if KERS fails and the vapours get into the cockpit.”

Christian Danner said: “The visibility of the drivers will be affected by the reflection.”

Mercedes’ Norbert Haug told Bild am Sonntag newspaper: “We are always interested in the advancement of safety. It’s an interesting experiment but I feel that a single seater cockpit needs to be open.”

Nico Rosberg added: “It sounds good. Anything that increases safety is a step forward.”

The FIA is proposing to mandate plexiglass windscreens for the cockpits of formula one cars, according to an Italian report.

Autosprint, publishing a photoshopped image of a possible F1 windshield that can be viewed at tinyurl.com/2ew7rf6, claims the innovation would be to protect drivers from being struck on the head.

The exposure of the drivers’ heads made headlines last year, when Felipe Massa was seriously injured by a flying suspension spring, days after F2 driver Henry Surtees was killed when he drove into the path of a stricken wheel.

“I’m not saying we need to cover (the cockpit) completely,” Ferrari driver Massa said after recovering from his skull injuries. “But maybe there are some other things we can do to the car to stop a wheel hitting your head.”

After those incidents last year, Bernie Ecclestone said Professor Sid Watkins – the president of the FIA Institute for Motor Sport Safety – had been commissioned to “deal with” the issue.

The renewed push for driver head safety also comes just six weeks after the nose of Vitantonio Liuzzi’s Force India rode up and almost struck Michael Schumacher’s head during the 2010 season finale in Abu Dhabi.

Autosprint said the proposed protective structure, whilst not impeding driver visibility, would be designed to withstand the impact of a flying wheel and the full 640kg weight of an F1 car.

The report said the solution would also need to take into consideration its aerodynamic impact, including the flow of air to the engine airbox and the wings.

F1 is moving to reduce the risk posed by flying wheels.

Last year, GP2 driver Henry Surtees died when a stray wheel from a crashed car struck him on the head.

There was a similar incident during the final practice session at Hockenheim last weekend, with Timo Glock narrowly avoiding a bouncing wheel after Vitantonio Liuzzi’s crash.

“I was lucky that I left a bit of room behind Liuzzi in the Motodrom to warm up my brakes.  Otherwise I would have been right behind him,” the German told Auto Motor und Sport.

A tether on Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari broke in his Monaco crash this year.

F1 introduced wheel tethers in 1998, connecting the wheels to the chassis.  They are made of a special polymer called polybenzoaoxide or Zylon.

But flying wheels continue to pose a risk to drivers as well as to spectators, as seen in Melbourne in 2001 with the death of a marshal behind the spectator fencing, and in 2000 when a marshal was killed at Monza.

“Tethers are of great concern to us,” said McLaren’s engineering director Paddy Lowe.

“We discussed the issue at the Technical Working Group and we have agreed for next year to introduce a second tether on every corner,” he revealed to reporters during a teleconference.