Ross Brawn has confirmed that his team, in partnership with the FIA, is to launch a thorough investigation into the incident during qualifying for the Hungarian GP which left Felipe Massa with a fractured skull.

While it is known that the Brazilian crashed into the tyre barriers after being hit by a spring which had fallen from Rubens Barrichello's car, there are many aspects of the incident that remain shrouded in mystery.

Furthermore, in the wake of similar accident last week which resulted in the death of F2 driver Henry Surtees, motor sport has to act, and act quickly, to avoid any repeats.

"We need to keep a perspective on it," Brawn told reporters in the Hungaroring paddock. "From what's been seen last weekend and this, we need to have a proper study to see if we need to do anything. We need to digest what's happened and understand it properly.

"It is time to look at the whole thing and take a balanced approach," he continued. "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," he added. "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."