19/09/2014
NEWS STORY
One cheeky observer pointed out that there was something Mosley-esque about the way the FIA clamped down on driver coaching over the radio.
In the build-up to the Singapore weekend it was announced that teams would not be able to provide driver or car performance instructions over the radio, but following a meeting with the teams on Thursday afternoon the FIA backtracked and announced that the ban would only include driver coaching.
The whole saga left some to suggest that the FIA's extreme initial position was designed to provoke the teams into negotiating back to a solution they would not have otherwise accepted.
Whatever the case, the radio rules have a rushed appearance.
Speaking in Singapore, Charlie Whiting admitted the notion came from a discussion among the members of the Strategy Group just two weeks ago at the Italian Grand Prix.
The reinterpretation is designed to change the concept that driving a modern Formula One car is easy. The idea is to hand back some of the control to the drivers, who themselves will have to rely on instinct and experience.
The problem is the changes have been instigated without taking time to fully appreciate the implications. Teams with large displays on their steering wheels were immediately at an advantage, penalising teams for making design decisions some 12 months ago. Uncertainty also abounded over how the brake-by-wire systems could be safely managed, not to mention the unanswered questions around how the FIA will monitor the use of coded messages, a scenario which has no obvious solution.
"It was put to me yesterday, for example, if something like ‘oil transfer is allowed' as a message it could be coded in such a way that oil transfer, when told to a driver in turn 1, means something different to if it's told to them in turn 10," Whiting explained. Sort of.
"It's going to be a little difficult but I'm fairly confident we can get over that one."
While not impacted by the current reinterpretation, Whiting was less certain of Mercedes' "hammer time" messages to Lewis Hamilton.
While car performance messages are still allowed, for now, come the end of the season they will be outlawed. The call to Hamilton could then be construed to include instructions to increase engine performance settings which would therefore contravene the regulations.
"Now we've got a little bit more time we can discuss with the teams," was Whiting's response when posed with that hypothetical, which begs the question how he'd have managed the situation had the clarification not have been made.
In practice, infractions are expected to be managed with grid penalties. In race conditions the new for 2014 five-second penalty could be used. None of the teams fell foul during Friday practice as they all took a conservative approach for fear of being penalised.
There were also far simpler ways of achieving the same goal – giving the television broadcaster instructions on the sort of messages not to broadcast, for example.
"The fact of the matter is when the driver's on track he should be driving the car himself," Whiting contended. "That's the fundamental essence of the regulation in question really."
On balance it seems an unnecessarily complicated system which does little to change the ‘show' for fans, while the question of why it has been introduced now has not been adequately answered.
Check out our Friday gallery, here.
Mat Coch