The FIA’s sweeping new restrictions on what types of radio messages teams are allowed to send during races will render many of the communications they have been using illegal.
A review of the radio messages sent during last week’s Italian Grand Prix indicates over a third of them are likely to contravene the FIA’s new guidelines.
The new restrictions will be felt most when it comes to managing the power units, which drivers received many messages about during the last race. Prohibitions on driving style information, fuel saving, tyre condition and race start modes will also be affected.
Most of the FIA’s new limits on radio traffic will be introduced at this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix. Further restrictions on messages concerning the state of tyres and gearboxes and the learning of gears will be imposed from the following round in Japan.
The Italian Grand Prix under the new restrictions
The following table shows all the radio messages that were broadcast by FOM during the Italian Grand Prix with all the messages that could be outlawed struck out.
This sheds some light on how enforcing the limits is not going to be straightforward. In the case of any grey areas a strict interpretation of the restrictions has been applied.
For example, “other car reporting rear tyres going off” has been deemed illegal on the grounds that drivers may not receive “information on tyre pressures or temperatures”. The stewards may take a more lenient view, but there are potentially many cases like this where the teams will want to define exactly what constitutes a legal and illegal message.
By stating that coded messages are forbidden, the FIA has given teams a clear disincentive to try to get around the rules. However they will still want to communicate as much information as they can to their drivers, and ways could remain for them to do that.
For example, drivers already hear audio tones which tell them when the lift the throttle when heading into braking zones in order to optimise their fuel saving. There appears to be nothing in the rules clarification to stop teams from extending this practice and creating a range of alarms for other warnings – such as poor fuel economy, low battery charge and so on.
The 74 messages broadcast during the Italian Grand Prix was considerably lower than that seen at many other rounds this year. Of those, 27 (36.5%) would be affected by the new rules.
That does not necessarily mean we will hear fewer messages in the broadcasts. One team indicated the number of their messages which were broadcast represented only 10% of all the messages they gave their drivers. Therefore we may simply hear more of the messages which were legal to begin with. As the limits apply to practice and qualifying as well, we’ll get the first indication of their impact on Friday.
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Lap* | From | To | Message |
---|---|---|---|
PR | Peter Bonnington | Lewis Hamilton | Adjustment of power unit settings. |
FL | Peter Bonnington | Lewis Hamilton | Learning of gears of the gearbox. Start maps related to clutch position for race start. |
FL | Unknown | Sebastian Vettel | Adjustment of gearbox settings, balancing the state of charge. |
FL | Ayao Komatsu | Romain Grosjean | Adjustment of power unit settings. |
1 | Lewis Hamilton | Peter Bonnington | My RS modes won’t [censored by FOM] work. |
1 | Peter Bonnington | Lewis Hamilton | Start maps related to clutch position for race start, adjustment of gearbox settings. |
2 | Lewis Hamilton | Peter Bonnington | RS mode lights are on. |
2 | Peter Bonnington | Lewis Hamilton | Start maps related to clutch position for race start, adjustment of power unit settings. |
3 | Andrew Murdoch | Felipe Massa | Adjustment of power unit settings. DRS enabled. |
4 | Peter Bonnington | Lewis Hamilton | Adjustment of power unit settings. DRS has been enabled. |
6 | Andrew Murdoch | Felipe Massa | Adjustment of power unit settings. |
6 | Brad Joyce | Nico Hulkenberg | Adjustment of power unit settings. You’ve got Ricciardo behind. |
7 | Max Chilton | Gary Gannon | Yeah I’m just a bit winded. |
8 | Nico Rosberg | Tony Ross | OK I lifted a lot, I lifted off a lot. |
8 | Tony Ross | Nico Rosberg | Information on tyre pressures or temperatures Copy that Nico we can see that. |
9 | Tony Ross | Nico Rosberg | Information on tyre pressures or temperatures |
10 | Lewis Hamilton | Peter Bonnington | Tell me when I have enough power for strat two. |
10 | Peter Bonnington | Lewis Hamilton | Adjustment of power unit settings. |
10 | Peter Bonnington | Lewis Hamilton | Adjustment of power unit settings. Nice work Lewis. |
12 | Guillaume Rocquelin | Sebastian Vettel | Status update if you can. |
12 | Sebastian Vettel | Guillaume Rocquelin | Not that much quicker. Traffic probably half a second quicker in clean air. |
13 | Tony Ross | Nico Rosberg | Detail of where a competitor is faster. |
13 | Nico Rosberg | Tony Ross | Do not tell me the gap. |
15 | Andrew Murdoch | Felipe Massa | Detail of where a competitor is faster. |
15 | Peter Bonnington | Lewis Hamilton | Detail of where a competitor is faster. OK Lewis two-tenths faster last lap. Gap now 1.8. |
18 | Jonathan Eddollls | Valtteri Bottas | Another great move. You are in the window. |
18 | Peter Bonnington | Lewis Hamilton | Detail of where a competitor is faster or slower. |
19 | Tony Ross | Nico Rosberg | And let us know how the tyres are on the HPP switch. |
19 | Tony Ross | Nico Rosberg | Information on tyre pressures or temperatures Copy that. |
21 | Peter Bonnington | Lewis Hamilton | So you’re getting close to DRS. |
21 | Lewis Hamilton | Peter Bonnington | How far? |
21 | Peter Bonnington | Lewis Hamilton | So it’s around the two-tenths mark, just keep it up. |
23 | Tony Ross | Nico Rosberg | Push hard now, two more timed laps. |
24 | Gianpiero Lambiase | Sergio Perez | Perfect. So we’ve jumped Alonso and Button, Checo. Just keep on Magnussen’s tail. Really good job, mate, really good job. |
24 | Peter Bonnington | Lewis Hamilton | Adjustment of power unit settings. |
26 | Tony Ross | Nico Rosberg | Adjustment of power unit settings. |
27 | Peter Bonnington | Lewis Hamilton | Information on level of fuel saving needed. I reckon the race is going to be at the end, the race will be at the end. So suggestion is we sit two, two-and-a-half seconds, |
28 | Guillaume Rocquelin | Sebastian Vettel | Sebastian, Magnussen is within DRS range. |
30 | Peter Bonnington | Lewis Hamilton | 24 laps to go, let’s just get into the rhythm. |
30 | Tony Ross | Nico Rosberg | Information on level of fuel saving needed. So it’s going to be important to look after these tyres to be able to attack at the end, Nico. |
33 | Gianpiero Lambiase | Sergio Perez | Adjustment of power unit settings. Try to push up to the guys ahead if you can, Checo. |
34 | Gianpiero Lambiase | Sergio Perez | Information on level of fuel saving needed. Just keep it clean, Checo. Keep it clean. Jenson wasn’t as close this time around, just keep it clean. |
34 | Simon Rennie | Daniel Ricciardo | OK mate, excellent job, Right let’s get into them ahead. |
35 | Tom Stallard | Jenson Button | Jenson car behind now Ricciardo. Ricciardo stopped four laps after us. |
35 | Simon Rennie | Daniel Ricciardo | OK mate it’s going to get pretty tasty ahead of you. There’s a lot of changing of places going. Let’s get amongst it. |
37 | Gianpiero Lambiase | Sergio Perez | Information on tyre pressures or temperatures. Checo I can’t say enough what a good job you’re doing. Just keep it up. |
37 | Jonathan Eddollls | Valtteri Bottas | Adjustment of power unit settings. That’s brilliant job, brilliant. |
39 | Gianpiero Lambiase | Sergio Perez | OK Magnussen has a five second penalty added to his race time. So stick with his DRS and we have his position, OK? |
40 | Sergio Perez | Gianpiero Lambiase | You saw what he did to me? |
40 | Gianpiero Lambiase | Sergio Perez | I saw it, but that was brilliant! Brilliant. Get back up to Magnussen, settle down mate. |
41 | Jenson Button | Tom Stallard | He just cut the chicane. Perez just cut the chicane. |
42 | Gianpiero Lambiase | Sergio Perez | Adjustment of power unit settings. |
44 | Sergio Perez | Gianpiero Lambiase | I need more power. |
44 | Gianpiero Lambiase | Sergio Perez | OK Checo we just need to keep it tidy and make sure we get to the end now. |
44 | Guillaume Rocquelin | Sebastian Vettel | Information on tyre pressures or temperatures. |
46 | Simon Rennie | Daniel Ricciardo | Alright then Daniel, Nine laps to go. Vettel doing 29.6s, you are eight tenths quicker than him. Let’s get him. |
46 | Mark Temple | Kevin Magnussen | And Kevin we’ve been given a five-second penalty for forcing Bottas off at turn two. We are racing Raikkonen behind so we need good pace all the way to the end to get good points. |
47 | Marco Matassa | Daniil Kvyat | Great mate. Keep going. The next is Raikkonen. He is seven seconds in front. We will fight for P10. |
48 | Antonio Spagnolo | Kimi Raikkonen | We expect Kvyat will be to us in two laps to the end. You should push if you can to close on Button. |
48 | Gianpiero Lambiase | Sergio Perez | Adjustment of power unit settings. |
51 | Esteban Gutierrez | Craig Gardiner | I think I have a flat tyre. |
51 | Craig Gardiner | Esteban Gutierrez | Adjustment of gearbox settings. Which corner? |
51 | Esteban Gutierrez | Craig Gardiner | I can continue but… |
51 | Craig Gardiner | Esteban Gutierrez | Understood. |
53 | Daniil Kvyat | Marco Matassa | I got no brakes. Is it last lap? |
53 | Marco Matassa | Daniil Kvyat | No, two laps to go. Keep pushing, keep pushing mate. |
53 | Daniil Kvyat | Marco Matassa | I cannot manage. |
PR | Peter Bonnington | Lewis Hamilton | Nice work Lewis, get in there pal. Beautifully recovered, mate. |
PR | Lewis Hamilton | Peter Bonnington | Thanks for all the efforts, guys. Great result, great recovery. So happy for everyone. |
PR | Andrew Murdoch | Felipe Massa | OK Felipe great race, great race. We need… |
PR | Felipe Massa | Andrew Murdoch | Thank you guys. Very good, very good result. I’m so happy, I’m so happy for this result. Especially to be here in Italy. |
PR | Nico Rosberg | Tony Ross | OK good job guys on a deserved one-two. That’s a great result for the team. I’m sorry for my side of the garage. Real shame. |
PR | Marco Matassa | Daniil Kvyat | Again, very good drive, very good race. Bravissimo, bravo. |
PR | Daniil Kvyat | Marco Matassa | Grazie a tutto [Thanks to all]. |
2014 F1 season
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- Fear of rules change led Mercedes to run dominant 2014 engine in “idle mode”
- Mercedes’ Bahrain battle “too dangerous” – Warwick
- Streiff’s comments on Bianchi crash investigation prompts legal action from FIA
- Is stewarding improving? Analysing 2014’s penalties
Image © Red Bull/Getty
Richard
17th September 2014, 12:46
What’s the punishment for breaking this? I imagine it might be very easy to do so.
Formula Indonesia (@)
17th September 2014, 12:51
In my opinion, its Likely a reprimand
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
17th September 2014, 12:59
@f1indofans Infringements would come under article 20.1 of the Sporting Regulations, which states:
The penalties available therefore include the normal range for incidents defined in the rules:
a) A five second time penalty
b) A drive-through penalty
c) A ten second time penalty
d) A time penalty
e) A reprimand
f) A drop of any number of grid positions at the driver’s next event
g) Exclusion from the results
h) Suspension from the driver’s next event
Note that (a) to (e) are not subject to appeal. The stewards can also stipulate a penalty under the International Sporting Code, but the list above will probably prove sufficient.
In the case of minor infringements I wouldn’t be surprised to see them use reprimands to begin with.
Formula Indonesia (@)
17th September 2014, 13:18
Wow, that was too harsh, i said reprimand because it was fair punishment, anyway thanks @keithcollantine for the info
JohnBt (@johnbt)
18th September 2014, 2:33
Suspect strongly chaos to follow. Surely it won’t be as smooth with 13 races gone by. Expect some form of stammering from the crew. Hoping for some hilarious and screw ups along the way. Main concern will be safety issues. Also hoping teams will use safety messages as a tactic masking it and confuse FIA.
Keith, does this mean FIA must now make sure 22 of their staff will be diligently monitoring team radio? Just wondering how many were used before.
aj
17th September 2014, 14:38
a reprimand is not a punishment. and rules will be broken if there are no real consequences.
John H (@john-h)
17th September 2014, 13:06
I feel sorry for the race engineers. With next to no preparation, they have to tread very carefully or risk penalising their own driver. Why this can’t be brought in for 2015 I don’t know, other than to introduce a random element to make the show more exciting. Makes me angry.
JohnBt (@johnbt)
18th September 2014, 2:34
Totally agree.
Evans
17th September 2014, 13:11
I don’t know about the message 27 “So we’re going to need the tyres at the end.” that you left out.
It sounds like a normal sensible (obvious) message but I suspect something like that won’t be allowed as well anymore.
jacobf90 (@jacobf90)
18th September 2014, 11:17
And from the HPP switch it would seem that an engineer can ask a question & a driver can give an answer/feedback via the switch & could tactical decisions based on that. Are we endorsing texting while racing?
I’m up for seeing what ban does to the racing but I don’t think it’s been thought out very well & has been implemented hastily. I quite enjoy listening & gaining insight from the radio communication that we’ve had in recent times. Has also been subject to some highlights of a few seasons now i.e. Alonso’s; “I give up!” or Hamilton at Korea 2013; “Anybody got any ideas?”. So I hope that they don’t ban radios all together.
manu
17th September 2014, 13:12
I have a question on this. In this case it was clear that what Lewis saw in the car wasn’t the same as what the pit wall saw, so clearly there was a problem with the cars software. Should the team not be able to tell the driver there’s a problem? Won’t this constitute a safety problem? For example the teams will likely put something that warns the driver that temps are high in the brakes and that would give them the cue to change brake bias and do more lift and coast to cool the brakes, but say a software glitch causes that warning not to show up on the dash, should the team not say anything to the driver?
A coded message here could be just Its Hammer time, which will always mean a predetermined strat mode. How will the FIA be able to distinguish whether a message was a coded message or a message of encouragement.
WH
17th September 2014, 13:54
Overtly coded messages might be judged to fall foul of Article 8.7 of the Technical Regulations on driver radio: “All such communications must be open and accessible to both the FIA and broadcasters.”
How they will deal with messages that on the face of it are normal permitted traffic but actually contain something coded is another matter.
Theo Parkinson (@theo-hrp)
18th September 2014, 2:32
I think Hammertime is ok because it is the same as push, not specifically telling a driver to go to a setting, just go as fast as they can with changing the setting common sense.
drmouse (@drmouse)
18th September 2014, 11:17
But who knows what it could mean from now?
It could be that HAM and his engineers it means strat mode x, torque setting y, etc… Whereas push now could mean a slightly lower setting.
It would be up to the stewards to decide, and it is likely that they will have to stop using it just in case.
altitude2k
17th September 2014, 13:24
Wouldn’t using “tones” to communicate information fall under the category of “coded messages”?
manu
17th September 2014, 13:27
Nope because its the same thing as the message on the dash telling the driver how much fuel they have, which is allowed. The tones are not communicated by the team to driver, its car to driver.
Iestyn Davies (@fastiesty)
17th September 2014, 16:00
God help them if they get a Cantonese driver/engineer combination then! Try and police that, FIA! ;)
Tim M (@tim-m)
17th September 2014, 17:16
Don’t give Fernando any ideas! He’s already trying to learn Aramaic to get around these rule ;)
altitude2k
17th September 2014, 18:52
One word.
Klingon.
BlueChris (@bluechris)
17th September 2014, 14:15
If the tones are permitted then the only thing the drivers need to learn is MORS code… so for examble :
This from From SPA in lap 16 from Rosberg to pits
…. . ? … / -.-. …. . .- – .. -. –. / .- – / – ..- .-. -. / .—- ….. ? / …. . ? … / -.-. …. . .- – .. -. –. ?
means
He’s cheating at turn 15! He’s cheating!
BlueChris (@bluechris)
17th September 2014, 14:21
@manu said now i saw that beeps are only from car to driver… so i think there is 2nd solution
or the team can have 30 people in a stand in straight line that each one will have all the letters of the alphabet and the numbers and the team will call them and they will make a sentence that the drivers can see :-)
JohnBt (@johnbt)
18th September 2014, 2:37
Whao! that’s a long code for a message. Lol.
antonis (@antonis)
17th September 2014, 14:55
The drivers are allowed to say whatever they want over the radio right ? So by definition the new interpretation does not affect those messages. If we look at the percentage of messages coming from the team that would be affected, we get 27 out of 55 (49%).
If we assume the FOM sample is representative (stupid assumption, I know), then half of the usual radio traffic from pit to car is now banned under the new interpretation of the rule. That’s a lot!!
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
17th September 2014, 16:15
@antonis Indeed, and some of the comments from drivers above simply won’t be made now as they’ll know they can’t be replied to.
OOliver
17th September 2014, 19:32
But such messages can help during a debrief as the team can tell the driver how to handle that situation in future since it serves as a marker
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
18th September 2014, 7:58
I remember heading a message from a driver one – might have been Riccardo – referring to the fact he’d pressed a button which puts a marked the car’s data feed so he could refer to something he had experienced in a lap with his engineers.
Patrickl (@patrickl)
18th September 2014, 12:07
Maybe the team can reply in coded form like “Understood” or “We’ll discuss this after the race” etc to mean different answers.
Tristan (@skipgamer)
17th September 2014, 15:12
All sounds great to me, really don’t know why some people are against it. Sounds like more onus is on the driver and not the team to drive the car.
Scepter (@scepter)
17th September 2014, 15:55
If this was the 1980’s it would have been fine, but time has moved on and so should the FIA, the one’s to blame here is FOM for airing all these messages in the 1st place. If the FIA wants to do something they should hold the radio ban until after the 1st three laps.
beneboy (@beneboy)
17th September 2014, 16:52
Yeah, let’s blame the FIA for enforcing the rules…
OOliver
17th September 2014, 19:54
The rules are not in tune with the times. The equipment is too complicated for a single engineer now we want drivers to have electronic and engineering degrees just to keep the ERS and ES in working condition?
The PU is still in need of refinement to get it to be operated by the throttle only without needing to adjust the BBW mode and brake bias mode modes and the infinite effect on energy release.
Coaching drivers I can understand but telling a student to look at a microprocessor and state the currect registers storing the instruction being processed is a ridiculous ask. These are discrete systems that are not directly obvious to the engineers without some kind of probing which the get from the telemetry.
Tristan (@skipgamer)
18th September 2014, 8:44
Why should a driver be required to look at microprocessor registers, that’s an entirely overly exaggerated analogy.
There is absolutely no reason for the settings to be so overly complicated so as for a driver to not understand them. There are hardly any settings that can’t be understood and decided upon by the driver in this very clear article. The majority of the banned messages are how to manage some aspect of the car re: tyres or driving style that the driver should be deciding.
Using complex settings to argue against these restrictions is entirely unreasonable and the teams themselves can design the settings interface such that it is easier for a driver to manage…
drmouse (@drmouse)
18th September 2014, 11:24
@skipgamer
They could. However, the systems are already designed. What you are talking about is a major redesign of key systems part way through a season.
Point is, although this is a sporting regulation, it has affected the design of the car. Changing it’s interpretation now means that several key systems are no longer fit for purpose. It is, in effect, a major regulation change, even more so than the FRIC ban, and should have been left to next season (if it was ever brought in in this form).
Tristan (@skipgamer)
18th September 2014, 11:46
That’s a fair point, but then the complaints should be regarding changing interpretations of rules mid-season. Not specifically the new interpretations, which is what I’ve seen more of.
It’s not the first time the FIA have radically changed interpretations of rules during a season, and I’m surprised it’s such an accepted practice, but without channels such as FOTA, how are the teams to do anything about it?
Patrickl (@patrickl)
18th September 2014, 12:09
The FIA deserves blame for ridiculously reinterpreting the rules mid season.
It’s disingenous, it’s annoying and it doesn’t fix anything.
Just like that FRIC malarky. They are so desperate to create a “show” that they will grasp at anything. Apart from actually improving the problems like massive budget differences and a poor rule set for effective racing.
StefMeister (@stefmeister)
17th September 2014, 17:38
But the drivers were still the one’s driving the car even when they were been given this information.
Even when a team informed a driver he was losing time in a certain sector/corner or that his team mate was braking a bit later at corner x, It was still 100% upto the driver to take that information & try & go faster.
Likewise with the various engine/ERS/brake & other settings they were instructed to change, Its still the driver that needs to do it & its still the driver that has to drive the car.
I also think banning these messages in practice is stupid as even during football/tennis or whatever practice/training the coaches/managers are allowed to give instructions to help improve whatever.
I fear all were going to see in practice now is cars spending more time in the pits either going over data or coming in every few laps in order to change settings.
Tristan (@skipgamer)
18th September 2014, 11:53
I disagree whole-heartedly that following instructions on what buttons to press and what techniques to use during certain corners is driving. Traditionally it has been the job of any racer to feel themselves the characteristics themselves and make adjustments.
Football and Tennis aren’t motorsports, but you’re correct it’s still a sport, and it’s entirely up to each specific sport to determine within it’s rules how much “coaching” the players can receive during a game. In tennis for example they actually limit quite heavily how much they can talk to coaches during the game, and you’re right in others it’s much more open, it entirely depends on the sport and I’m glad as I said in my original comment that the FIA has decided to place more of the onus on the driver rather than the team.
Ricardo Ferreira (@yes-master)
17th September 2014, 15:18
I still find this measure very stupid. And I would imagine how empty other sports would be without the help of the technical team. Like football. “Hey, Mr. Coach, you’re forbidden to talk with your players during a match. You may tell them that the weather is fine. But only if they don’t ask you that! If they do, you’re not allowed to respond. And God forbid if you tell them to surprise the adversary by the flank. No, no, no! And no, you cannot tell them to score goals!!!!! If you do that, the goal will be disallowed. I mean it!”
It’s too stupid for me to accept.
Mellow Jessica
17th September 2014, 18:57
At first I was excited about this ban but now I agree that it’s way over-the-top and ridiculous to implement such extreme prohibitions in such a pathetic, reactionary fashion, especially when the fault was w/ FOM broadcaster world feed in first place for airing messages that allegedly compromised “the Show”.
The drivers STILL have been the ones driving the cars out there…
Ian Stephens (@ians)
17th September 2014, 21:44
And of course you can not train them in your practice sessions either!
BaKano (@bakano)
17th September 2014, 15:32
FIA is becoming like external auditors or consultants that identify problems nobody complained about, and do not exist, and then offer solutions that are costly to implement (in theory need a lot more people listening to all messages in real time) and most likely will have damaging results…
Iestyn Davies (@fastiesty)
17th September 2014, 16:01
@bakano I can’t wait for them to miss something important which affects the championship or some such just because they are now trying to police the team radios.. some would say that already happened at Spa though.
JerseyF1 (@jerseyf1)
17th September 2014, 19:28
@fastiesty Even worse if they don’t miss something which affects the championship.
Imagine if Nico or Lewis lost the championship at Abu Double because an engineer accidentally said something from the banned list – the culmination of two stupid FIA rules affecting the championship.
Iestyn Davies (@fastiesty)
17th September 2014, 21:17
@jerseyf1 and the backlash that that would cause… they are asking for it really. Or does Bernie want publicity at any cost?
BaKano (@bakano)
17th September 2014, 16:18
I was more thinking in the lines of DNFs and off-tracks excursions due to the lack of feedback, and then correct management of the Power Unit, brakes and tyres. On the other hand one of the reasons F1 became a bit boring was the excellent reliability achieved in the last years, and albeit the introduction of new technical rules, things are not so bad this year. Some uncertainty about the ability to go the distance might be good, but its never good to have DNFs deciding the title (although its an integral part of racing) and of course even worse due to the penalties (or lack of) for inflicting these rules…
Iestyn Davies (@fastiesty)
17th September 2014, 21:16
I have a feeling that they wish to get less optimal usage of the cars to get more action/overtakes/retirements/less moaning from long time fans, and that this is likely to achieve that.
DaveW (@dmw)
17th September 2014, 16:07
“Push hard” possibly should be struck as well if it is stated in response to a question about the pace or position of another driver. Otherwise, things get too cute too quickly with apparently indirect comments, don’t they? This is going to be a hot mess.
Also, I didn’t know about the beeping alerts for drivers, other than for the DRS zone. I suppose that teams could go further and just implement a kind of “siri” system that answers drivers questions directly, based on on-board data. E.g., “Siri, what is my fuel consumption, absolute and relative to target?” (Of course, Sebastian Vettel would have some more creative and tawdry name for his on-board data valet.)
I would also forsee the teams adding more sensors and processing facilities on the car, so that the driver can summon the data directly via his or her visual or auditory equipment. This would be coming from the car, not the pits, so there would be no complaints from the FIA. In general, I forsee this dumb rule setting off another minor technical arms race to bypass the restrictions. In the end, the supposedly impure engineering aspect of piloting the car simply will be shifted to the driver, futher diluting the hoped-for tableau of brave gladiators.
Ian Stephens (@ians)
17th September 2014, 21:46
… all adding to the costs the FIA pretends it is trying to reduce.
Steve Freegard (@smfreegard)
17th September 2014, 17:30
I expect that those teams with the large McLaren displays can implement some sort of Codemasters F1 game style graphics for things like the tyres where it would show all four corners and the colours would change as the tyres and brakes change temperature with an audible warning tone and a message to show if there are issues.
The most pertinent information would be:
Tyre Temperatures + Slip
Brake Temperatures + Lock
State of Charge
Fuel available/remaining
Of course those without the new displays are going to be severely disadvantaged (e.g. Red Bull, Toro Rosso, Lotus etc.)
KeithR (@)
17th September 2014, 18:01
Yes exactly @smfreegard. Plus one imagines the big teams will have been able to get engineers & coders on it and will be arriving in Singapore with updated driver info systems.
But I’ve always thought they should have this data displayed.
Now we just need someone at FOM to realise we need a camera on the display, or a virtual copy on our screens.
Steve Freegard (@smfreegard)
17th September 2014, 18:25
I have a theory about that – I suspect they haven’t done so already for two reasons:
1) Keep the driver focussed on driving only.
Up to now they haven’t *had* to have this information themselves as the pitwall and their race engineers deal with this and tell them over the radio.
2) The onboard cameras might be good enough to read some of this data which would allow other teams to see potentially sensitive data. I’m sure teams would love to know their oppositions tyre and brake temperatures, tyre pressures, SoC or Fuel targets.
And for those reasons – that’s why they haven’t done this already and why the FOM feeds don’t show this either.
It will be fascinating to see what all the teams come up with this weekend.
KeithR (@)
17th September 2014, 19:41
@smfreegard Indeed, teams will only show the data to us if they’re forced, of course, and FOM are too clueless even to give us battery state never mind interesting stuff like temperatures!
It was a big setback for the sport when the Germans failed to lock Bernie up IMO ;)
Yes I daresay teams wanted to use the audio channel to spread the load for the driver. They’ll need some seriously good design for the displays. Something else we’re unlikely to see much about I fear.
Pat
17th September 2014, 22:59
I’m pretty sure most of the information on temps, fuel and charge is available on the steering wheel displays. In fact didn’t Rosberg spend most of the Chinese GP relaying fuel readings to the pit wall when his telemetry failed?
Its possible that by Japan the cars could be programmed to give advice/instructions on managing fuel, brakes and charge directly, effectively cutting out the middle-man on the pit-wall.
Patrickl (@patrickl)
18th September 2014, 12:11
I would assume they would be allowed to have the car send spoken messages to the drivers. Perhaps a bit safer. The car would “know” it’s on a straight so as to not disturb the driver.
Jake (@jleigh)
17th September 2014, 17:37
Is this right??
Jake (@jleigh)
17th September 2014, 17:38
Ah, not quite copied right…the line is through, get the benefit of the tow without losing downforce. I don’t see how that is fuel saving related?
Patrickl (@patrickl)
18th September 2014, 12:14
Isn’t it too explicit an instruction to the driver on what to do?
Drivers know that already anyway since they do it almost in every race. Then lewis decided that he wasn’t going to follow the advice anyway.
George O'Donnell (@georgeod)
17th September 2014, 18:30
One of the most unpopular things this year was the excessive penalties given to drivers when the team release the driver unsafely. Surely the same thing is going to happen now – there will be an outcry when a driver receives a penalty because the team accidentally give the driver a reasonable but illegal instruction. Let chaos ensue.
Ian Stephens (@ians)
17th September 2014, 21:50
Can I get a driver penalised by displaying forbidden information to him from the grandstand? It would be a kind of reverse FanBoost. This rule interpretation is just as stupid as FanBoost but a lot less lucrative for the organisers.
Lauri (@f1lauri)
17th September 2014, 20:43
Will we get better pitboard shots now?
JohnBt (@johnbt)
18th September 2014, 2:44
When was the last time we saw pit boards from F1? Ages ago I think.
Rodney (@)
17th September 2014, 21:04
I think coded messages will reach a whole new level! Perhaps they will learn some lesser-known/used language and use that.
Simon (@s162000)
17th September 2014, 21:37
So if the amount of messages broadcast during the race is only 10% perhaps the issue of driver coaching is a lot more prevalent than we realise. In which case a ban on this type of communication seems justified, IF it does not impact on the reliability of the cars due to the complicated systems needing adjustment by the driver in the race. The timing of the ban halfway through the season may give the teams time to make whatever adjustments are required for next season. We’ll just have to hope that potential car failures and drivers being overly cautious will not deprive us of the great racing we have seen so far in 2014.
Simon (@s162000)
17th September 2014, 21:50
I should say two thirds through the season not half way of course…
Paul
17th September 2014, 21:59
This is another example of how F1 and all those managing it don’t seem to understand why we watch. It’s the spectacular symphony of driver, car, engineers, designers, pit crew, etc. Silencing radio is going to reduce the pleasure because we’re not going to hear all the notes. Why else do the announcers stop in mid-sentence to hear the radio transmissions? Because it’s what we want to hear. It’s as if we had a mike on every football player, it would be awesome. Instead we’re going to be reduced to watching silent cars race around while the commentators tell us how the cars are racing around the circuit.
JohnBt (@johnbt)
18th September 2014, 2:47
Can you imagine playing a piano but restricted to the black keys only.
William Stuart (@williamstuart)
17th September 2014, 22:15
Does this only cover what the public hears? Could the driver ask a question to the team and then the team could send the answer/instructions to the steering wheel? That way the drivers can be assisted and the public is none the wiser.
PeterG
17th September 2014, 23:11
No data (Other than voice via the radio) can be sent from pits to car so the teams cannot send messages to the wheel display.
stefano (@alfa145)
17th September 2014, 22:32
So, as it turns out, “Push hard” is not forbidden.
I am in total confusion now. If push hard is permitted, what about “Push harder”.
The stupidity of this rule is so big I think it will not endure more than some races.
PeterG
17th September 2014, 23:13
I’m actually half surprised there seems to be so many fans (Even perhaps the majority) against these restrictions as I was kinda expecting to be one of the only people who disliked it.
Yet it seems on every site i’ve been on the past week the majority of comments have been against the restrictions.
Jay Menon (@jaymenon10)
18th September 2014, 1:30
“For example, drivers already hear audio tones which tell them when the lift the throttle when heading into braking zones in order to optimise their fuel saving.”
Jeez..the get told when to lift?!!
JohnBt (@johnbt)
18th September 2014, 2:54
Hows bout a ‘sneeze’ or ‘cough’ or a throat clearing effect. The more I read I see comedy in action.
And for this new rule I bet other situations will arise and stewards might miss it as FIA is so hung up on their stupidity.
Mike (@mike)
18th September 2014, 5:31
Yes, it’s been like that for ages. It tells them the optimum time to coast.
JohnBt (@johnbt)
18th September 2014, 2:15
Anyone remembered Sutil’s message from his engineer, “Don’t use curbs” and Sutil replied, “Don’t use Kers?” that was quite funny.
I guess with new radio rules it’ll be a lot quieter and there be hesitation from pit wall as they have to be very careful with what they say with a busy race in Singapore. Can be interesting as fans have to concentrate harder and make some predictions. Commentators too will be second guessing too, but their opinions might be better especially from Brundle.
Mike (@mike)
18th September 2014, 5:30
It’s going to be a farce. how the hell will they police this if they couldn’t deal with “Alonso is faster than you”?
Secondly, given the huge quantity of messages the engineers send, how can one expect them to get it right all the time? And if they don’t punish mistakes, then the rule will break down that way.
Evans
18th September 2014, 8:07
What about
After 10 laps, drivers says “What’s the gap?” Team says, ” 2 seconds push, hard. Push mate”
After 15 laps, drivers says “What’s the gap?” Team says “2 seconds”.
After 30 laps, drivers says “What’s the difference?” Team says, ” 2 seconds push, hard. Push mate”
After 45 laps, drivers says “What’s the difference?” Team says “2 seconds”.
Will that be investigated?
DavidS (@davids)
18th September 2014, 8:58
I want the team to be able to control all the boring stuff like engine maps, diff settings and the like. It would effectively make all the radio chatter telling the driver to change something redundant. What you would get however is driver’s pleading for a more aggressive setting, which would be entertaining.
I can just imagine Lewis chucking a hissy fit at his engineers when they won’t give him all the power. “C’mon guys, I’m trying to fricken race here!” Hilarious…
drmouse (@drmouse)
18th September 2014, 11:52
Part of the reason they did away with that was to stop a team deliberately hobbling one driver, or the impression that they were or could be.
Fans didn’t like it. There were discussions about whether Ferrari, for instance, were turning one driver’s engine down to stop him challenging their team mate. We didn’t know, and couldn’t really know, and the lack of transparency caused conspiracy theories*.
* For all I know, they may have been correct, it sounds like a very Ferrari thing to do!
Paul V
10th November 2014, 18:02
When I heard Hamilton being told in Brazil to “avoid locking his front tyres” to control the tyre wear I thought this would fall into this restriction. I expected the commentators to pick up on it but they didn’t. Any guesses why?
Paul V
10th November 2014, 18:07
For clarity it occurred around lap 18
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