New clampdown to come into effect for the new F1 season
Friday 18 March 2016 13:44, UK
Christian Horner hopes F1 has not "gone too far" with restrictions on radio communications, as debate continues over the FIA's clampdown.
F1's governing body has introduced a tighter interpretation of the rule which states that cars must be driven alone and unaided with a series of new restrictions on how teams can communicate with their drivers over the radio.
Friday's world feed TV coverage of practice at the Australian GP featured noticeably few team radio soundbites, with pitwalls seemingly taking a cautious approach to the new regulations which apply to practice sessions as well as races.
Horner, Red Bull's team principal, is concerned F1 may have inadvertently detracted from the spectacle by reducing the scope for communication with drivers.
"I think it's going to be a voyage of discovery and I hope we haven't gone too far on the radio stuff, because that's taking away an element of dialogue between the engineer and the driver," he said. "Some of that from behind the scenes can be quite entertaining, some of it X-rated, but quite enthralling for the fans.
"We got quite a few changes to take on board this year, so let's see how it goes."
'Formula 1's radio clampdown is unnecessary'
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff cited the new radio rules when reacting to Nico Rosberg's crash in the rain-hit Practice Two session, saying the team had considered switching him to the full wet tyres but "couldn't tell him because of the new rules".
Although McLaren's Fernando Alonso does not believe there is a potential safety concern with the revised regulations, he reckons does not understand why the rules extend to practice.
"I don't think it's going to be anything serious, but probably the restrictions are a little bit too extreme sometimes - especially in free practice," Alonso told Sky Sports News HQ.
"I understand in the race it's supposed to be the driver alone driving by himself and his instinct, but sometimes in free practice we miss some test or forget something because they cannot tell us [what to do]. There is no performance or help in it, we are just testing in free practice and we cannot receive any calls.
"It's a little bit strange."
FIA confident changes will work
Alonso's team-mate Jenson Button has suggested the FIA will find it "impossible to police" the messages delivered to all 22 cars, but FIA race director Charlie Whiting explained on Friday how the governing body will keep across all radio channels.
"We're listening to it in real time," Whiting said. "We've got four people in race control listening to three drivers each, and then we've got four or five software engineers listening to two or three each, so it's relatively straightforward."
He also denied the clampdown would eradicate the kind of "juicy" radio soundbites from drivers which have become a central part of TV coverage in recent years.
"First of all, we heard many many complaints from viewers who were a bit fed up of hearing the continual engineering assistance the driver was getting," Whiting added. "That's fundamentally what we want to cut out, but the driver is allowed to say anything he wants - there's no restrictions in what he says; it's what the team can say to him.
"You'll still get what I would call the juicy content - if someone has done something silly on track, the driver can call him an idiot and all that sort of stuff. Those are the things that generally I think people like to hear."
The first race of the 2016 F1 season, the Australian GP, is exclusively live on Sky F1. The race in Melbourne starts at 5am on Sunday March 20. Or watch for £6.99 without a contract, on NOW TV.
