Question about air intakes

[benjamin]

Hi everyone,
just a technical question about the air intake above the drivers' helmets on 2014 F1. What's its role ? During previous F1 turbo era, they were considered unuseful. Why have they been kept now ? Is there an aerodynamical reason ? Cooling requirements that could not been achieved only by lateral intakes ? Or is there any technical regulation forcing manufacturers to do so ?
Thank you very much to all

[PhillipM]

Clean, pressurised air to the airbox in a space given by the regulations, same reason they've always been there.