Reports that the FIA are going to be a bit softer with the radio rules until all teams have the large steering display, fuel consumption, the state of the brakes or tires will now be allowed over the radio.
You can also get double points at certain races for the low low price of a few million dollars BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE Oh god I just had a horrible vision of Bernie allowing teams to play a "joker" card before certain races to double any points gained. Calling it now that if he's still bribing Death in 2017 that'll happen.
There's so many loopholes in those new rules it's stupid. For example, if you can be told the gap to competitors, you don't need to know the sector detail, the engineer just updates the driver more often. Rather than "Rosberg is 0.2s faster in sector 1", it's "through sector 1 the gap has increased from 3.4 to 3.6 seconds". It's the same information. You can be told to push still, which is basically the same as being told to turn the engine up. You can't tell a driver to slow down, but you can tell him "you're racing Chilton who is ten minutes behind you". Every driver is going to know given that information to turn the engine down. The same gets you around saying whether fuel saving is required. A lot of the banned messages apply to the formation lap it would appear (tyre temps, burn-outs, clutch, bite points), when we barely ever hear any radio messages anyway. The only reason I can see for that ban is to try and make a couple more drivers mess up the start, putting them out of position early in the race and artificially creating a bit of drama. And they'll all have that sorted after a couple of races, or if not they'll simplify the driver inputs for next season. In fact, artificial drama is the only point of any of this, Bernie's probably got fed up with nearly all the cars finishing and wished a few more dramatic retirements happened. And if they do then it'll only be a few races before they rules change back, because the Sponsors will moan they're losing out on screen time. I can't wait for the clowns to stop running the circus that is F1.
Why don't they just pretend that radio traffic has been banned by not broadcasting it, or only broadcast funny/interesting bits? It's only become an issue because more radio traffic gets broadcast, most of it is dull as **** anyway.
It makes me laugh* that F1 must employ so many PR people and yet none of them can work out that the bad publicity is nothing to do with the racing being "boring". *mostly because it beats crying
The racing isn't boring though. There have been some fantastic scraps this year through the field. When was the last time, ever, that there has been truly great races for 1st and 2nd places between non-teammates? Most championship battles have swung from one race to another, but the actual racing for the win has never been that great.
Going to edit for clarification - should have put boring in quotation marks because this season has been great, the racing's been top-notch, the only people who think otherwise are a narrow-minded minority.
Should this be a new Thread or can we use this one to discuss it... Who do you think will benefit most or least from the new Sound of Silence regulations and why do you think so?
Nobody. Certainly not in any way that will be readily apparent to the viewer. The only discernible effect I see it having is making it more difficult for rookies (another reason why I expect this ban will be dialled back at the end of the year).
TomTom yet another change AdTech Ad Sky F1 understands FIA will issue a further clarification on radio clampdown Teams raise concerns about ban in its current form By Mike Wise in Singapore. Last Updated: 18/09/14 6:31pm Sky F1 understands that the FIA will issue a further clarification on its radio clampdown after teams raised concerns about the ban as it currently stands. Having announced its decision last week to stop the flow of radio messages concerning car and driver performance, the governing body then sent teams a second directive comprehensively listing what can and cannot be said starting at this weekend's Singapore GP. However, some drivers suggested on Thursday that certain types of message relating to the management of F1’s hybrid power units – which were listed as banned - should still be relayed. The concern is that without these messages, components such as the car’s ERS battery and rear brakes – which are now controlled by brake-by-wire systems and frequently adjusted as the battery charges – might be damaged or overheat, causing retirement or even an accident. However, after a meeting of team managers at the Marina Bay Circuit on Thursday, Sky F1’s Ted Kravitz tweeted that a new directive will be issued, meaning that such messages will be allowed after all.
I expected safety concerns to allow the teams to win back some radio messages, it's hardly safe to allow components to run hot and potentially fail when you could do something about it.
This is how it should have been done in the first place. Suggestions, a consultation, an agreement, THEN implement it. This is just silly.
see what happens when you add a rule mid season without investigation and planning.... http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/29276492
New list of BANNED ITEMS (until, ooh, Sunday I reckon): * Driving lines on the circuit * Contact with kerbs * Car set-up parameters for specific corners * Comparative or absolute sector time detail of another driver * Speeds in corners compared to another driver * Gear selection compared with another driver * Gear selection in general * Braking points * Rate of braking compared to another driver * Rate of braking or application of brakes in general * Car stability under braking * Throttle application compared to another driver * Throttle application in general * Use of DRS compares with another driver * Use of any overtake button * Driving technique in general Ban on messages about e.g. performance, temperatures etc lifted until next season. This seems pretty sensible to me. Keeping the ban on over-zealous driving advice, but allowing the drivers to hear about the state of the car until next season when they can prepare the drivers for the loss of that.
They are not handling the introduction of these rules well. Why do it in the first place? Just leave it. The season has been a cock up full of teething problems anyway, with sound and power etc.
Now there is another change..seems like they are going to delay the banning of radio messages. FIA: RADIO BAN DELAYED TO ENSURE FAIRNESS FOR ALL 19 September, 2014 Charlie Whiting in Singapore Formula 1 has back-tracked on a planned clampdown on radio and pitboard messages for reasons of fairness but remains determined to end driver ‘coaching’ during races, the world governing body said on Friday. Teams will be allowed to send messages relating to car performance in Sunday’s Singapore Grand Prix but from next season they will follow those concerning driver performance onto the banned list. After a meeting at the Italian Grand Prix two weeks ago, the International Automobile Federation (FIA) opted to ban messages on both topics but decided after speaking with team managers in Singapore that more time was required. “When one looks into it in more detail it became quite clear that some teams would be at a serious disadvantage compared to others,” FIA race director Charlie Whiting told reporters at the Marina Bay Street Circuit after first practice. “Not just in their new know-how or their ability to react in the short term, but also in hardware choices that were made a year ago. The two types of dashboards that are available to the teams, one will simply show a great deal more than the other,” he added. Pit wall to driver communications a hot topic in F1 right now “So in the interest of fairness we felt with the benefit of hindsight it would be better to introduce it in two stages and that is what we have done.” Asked why the FIA had not simply waited for the final six races of the 2014 campaign to pass before implementing the new rules, Whiting said the organisation couldn’t stand by if rules were clearly being broken. “It was becoming apparent that more and more was being done for the drivers and quite simply that is at odds with article 20.1 of the regulations,” the Briton said. “If you see or hear something that you are uncomfortable with, with regards to conforming to the rules, you have to do something about it and that’s our job.” Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone told reporters on Thursday he had been behind the original decision to ban messages and he wanted less talk on the radio during races. He also suggested more restrictions should be introduced in future and Whiting said it was inevitable the rules on messages would become far more comprehensive. Bernie Ecclestone with FIA Delegate Herbie Blash “The plan is to make it more far reaching to take in the technical elements of it as well. The technical assistance that the driver is getting on the performance of the car as well,” he continued. “It will inevitably become more complex but unfortunately that is how the sport is. It is going to be hard to make it simpler unless I was to remove radios from the car but I don’t think that will be very well received.” Whiting said the first session of Friday practice in Singapore had been incident free and that “around eight” people were currently monitoring the radio traffic of the 11 teams on the grid. He acknowledged, though, that coded messages would be difficult to police but added that the teams were all listening to each other and was confident any breaches would not go unnoticed. Penalties, determined by race stewards, are likely to be sporting rather than monetary. “If it [a banned message] happened in a race it might be a five second time penalty for example, if it happened in practice it might be a grid position or something like that,” he said.
McLaren believes that Formula 1 rival Red Bull used coded radio messages during the Singapore Grand Prix to help Daniel Ricciardo finish on the podium. The use of team radio to help a drivers' performance was outlawed ahead of the Singapore GP, although advice to help the technical performance or for reliability reasons is still allowed. McLaren racing director Eric Boullier suggests, however, that Red Bull took things close to the limit with some of its messages to Ricciardo as he suffered battery problems. F1 teams were explicitly told that instructions relating to contact with kerbs was not allowed, but Red Bull was heard telling Ricciardo: "Avoiding exit kerbs may help the problem with the car." Speaking about how different dealing with the race from the pit wall was now with the new radio limits, Boullier said: "Nothing, but it makes us more busy listening to the others to see they are not doing anything like Red Bull did twice on Ricciardo. "I think it was coded, yes. It is up to the FIA to investigate, so it is not for me to say anything. "But it was a strange message. Once would have been OK, but twice or three times is a bit strange." Red Bull boss Christian Horner insists, however, that his team had clarified with F1 race director Charlie Whiting whether or not it would be allowed to give the instructions to Ricciardo. "Obviously we spoke to Charlie and told him Daniel had some reliability issues," he said. "That was why he was told to stay off the kerbs, because that was causing damage to the battery. "I think that was sensible and it's about trying to find a balance with this radio ban." The FIA has also confirmed to Red Bull that it was happy its messages to Ricciardo were within the regulations.
