Radio rocks: Why F1's rule change is the latest instalment in a ridiculous saga
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Updated 29/07/2016 at 13:32 GMT
Drivers woke up on Friday morning to find that they would be competing in the German Grand Prix under new rules. Carrie Dunn looks at what's going on - and why.
Jenson Button at the Hungaroring
Image credit: Reuters
The rules surrounding the use of pit radio at F1 races has generated major controversy this season - not least at the British Grand Prix, where the ten-second penalty issued to Nico Rosberg (and which cost him a place) could potentially play a crucial role in determining who wins the championship.
But the issues themselves aren't new: we're dealing with a particularly odd and controversial piece of F1 legislation that has caused all sorts of problems for years.
In 2014, the FIA announced plans to outlaw any information at all being given to drivers over team radio or pitboards - and then decided that actually they'd limit that ban to just driving advice.
That was because there were concerns over driver safety if they weren't allowed to enquire about some technical issues.
That all seemed fair enough. Jenson Button welcomed that clampdown, saying in November 2014:
If in the new tech regs, the radio limitations end up where they should have ended up in terms of not telling us anything, that is what it should be. We should have to do our homework and plan ahead, and I think the more experienced drivers are better at that. The new guys coming in are told when to go faster, when to brake, how much heat, how much fuel - it is something that has annoyed me.
In the years I have raced I have had help from a team, which is what it is about - you learn from things, you make your own mistakes, and you benefit from that as a driver and individual. For me, the way I have learned has been the best way.
Yet the way the radio regulations were written were still unclear and ambiguous, forcing the FIA to clarify them twice in quick succession. When drivers were on the track, these were the rules they and their teams were expected to follow:
- 1.You may tell the driver of a critical problem with the car, e.g. puncture warning or damage.
- 2. You may tell the driver of a problem with a competitor's car.
- 3. You may tell the driver to enter the pitlane in order to fix or retire the car.
- 4. You may give the driver marshalling information (yellow flag, red flag, race start aborted or other similar instructions or information from race control).
- 5. You may inform the driver about a wet track, oil or debris in certain corners.
- 6.You may tell the driver to respect the maximum laptime provided it is clear that he is in danger of exceeding it.
- 7. You may not tell the driver to drive through the pitlane.
- 8. You may not tell the driver to make his way to the back of the grid.
- 9. You may not discuss a balance check with the driver.
- 10. You may not tell the driver to turn off the car.
- 11. You may not carry out a radio check with the driver.
And why are rules of this nature needed? Because F1 requires drivers to manage their cars "alone and unaided" - getting advice and prompting from the team on dealing with the car is prohibited.
You'd think that drivers would welcome the opportunity to be as competitive as possible, going head to head with the rest of the grid in a straightforward shoot-out.
Except it didn't pan out like that.
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2015 world champion Lewis Hamilton
Image credit: Reuters
At the start of this season, defending champion Lewis Hamilton said that a strict enforcement of the regulations was making his job harder, explaining:
It is a big change and whether or not I agree with all the of the implications I think it's definitely going to make it a lot harder. We have to memorise a lot more things, there's so many different processes and sequences we have to go through in the car. We just have to figure out ways in which we can try to remember them. Sometimes you will see stickers in the car or stickers on the steering wheel because there is literally so much.
Fernando Alonso, one of the senior statesmen on the grid, was explicit in saying that he thought that the clampdown was not the correct way for the competition to go, saying:
It's strange sometimes the direction we are going in an era of communication and technology, that Formula 1 tries to restrict that thing, which is probably not a normal way to go. But I don't think it will give the driver a bit more power on the season, or a bit more influence on the race itself. Because of those limitations the strategy for the race, or the preparation for the race, will be much more strict, and the discipline we will have to have in the car will be much higher, but actually I think the driver will have less room to decide things.
1997 champion Jacques Villeneuve gave his views too:
Either you allow radio or you ban it, you don't allow an in-between where you can say this but you can't say that - that was ridiculous.
Plenty of drivers and teams agree. Red Bull's team boss Christian Horner sympathised with Mercedes when they considered appealing against Rosberg's demotion from second to third place at the British Grand Prix for breaking radio regs, saying: "The rule is rubbish."
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Nico Rosberg during the British Grand Prix
Image credit: Reuters
Everything came to a head last weekend when - ironically, bearing in mind his previous outspokenness about the liberal approach to the radio - Button was penalised in Hungary after his team helped him with a hydraulics problem, diagnosing a sensor failure as he complained that the pedal was going straight to the floor.
The livid driver said afterwards:
I completely understand that drivers should not be fed information that helps us drive the car. I'm totally with that because I think it's wrong that we're told every corner where our team-mate is quicker or slower than us, and fuel saving should be down to us, and so many other things should be down to us. But when it's a safety concern with the brake pedal going to the floor, you shouldn't be penalised for stopping an accident, and that's what we did today.
And so there's been a ridiculous climbdown, halfway through the season. It's not even agreeing a compromise - it's lifting the restrictions altogether.
But it's not for safety reasons. Just look at the FIA statement:
At the request of the teams and the commercial rights holder, the FIA has agreed to adopt a more liberal approach to the interpretation of article 27.1 (that a driver must drive the car alone and unaided). With the exception of the period between the start of the formation lap and the start of the race, there will be no limitations on messages teams send to their drivers either by radio or pit board. This approach is aimed at providing improved content for fans and spectators, as teams will now be required to provide the commercial rights holder with unrestricted access to their radio messages at all times their cars are out of the garage.
Yes, they're justifying the complete revision of a strict rule they tried so desperately to impose by pointing towards the need to provide "improved content" - if they unleash the radio restrictions, they can broadcast them as much as they like, and create all kinds of drama.
Button was quick to inject a note of scepticism to the proceedings, hinting that F1's adherence to the reasoning behind their rules was minimal at best.
He isn't wrong. The FIA are easily swayed by a compelling commercial argument - but not so much a sporting one.
One can only expect that this time next year the whole saga will begin again as drivers begin to gripe that newbies aren't learning to drive in F1 properly, because their teams are guiding them round the track.
And what will the FIA do then? Doubtless they'll go through the same rigmarole again, introducing stricter and stricter rules until the teams and more pertinently the broadcasters rebel once more.
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