Red Bull designer fears new F1 nose

Red Bull's star designer Adam Newey believes the new nose design on cars for the 2014 Formula One season could be dangerous.

The maximum height of the nose this season is just 18.5 centimetres, a reduction of 55 centimetres from last year.

The intention is to prevent cars flying into the air upon a collision, as happened spectacularly to Australian driver Mark Weber in Valencia in 2010.

But Newey thinks that such a low nose could lead to one car sliding under another should they come into contact during a race.

"I must confess that I'm worried the opposite could happen," he said on Wednesday at the test drive week in Jerez, Spain.

"I think that is a far worse scenario."

Red Bull driver and four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel saw both positive and negative sides to the new design.

"Are they safer or not? In some situations probably yes, in others probably not," he said.

The aesthetic aspect of the design has also drawn criticism with Newey branding the cars "unattractive" and Vettel saying some now look like a vacuum cleaner.

The Formula One season starts with the Melbourne Grand Prix on March 16.