“Even if we get rid of this ship to shore, as I call it, there are still
a lot of aids that they should not have.”
From this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix, the teams have been informed that
they are no longer allowed to give drivers advice on fuel saving or corner
speeds via pit-to-car radio or by using pit boards.
Ecclestone’s comments came as the majority of drivers in the sport welcomed
the move, although some questioned the timing of such a sudden intervention
during the middle of the season.
Lewis Hamilton, who trails Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg by 22 points in the
championship, said he hoped the comparative relative silence would be to his
advantage.
Hamilton told Sky Sports: “I remember way back from when we were in
karts, the cool thing in karting [is] you don’t have any data – or we didn’t
back then. So no one could ever see where I was quick.
“Maybe that’s a little bit more of a step in that direction because now you
have so much data you can see everything, everything I do, any trick that I
have. Every driver in every team will see that from his team-mate, but
hopefully this is one step in that [other] direction.
“But I quite like now that we’re left to do it ourselves – that’s how it was
back in the karting days. So it’s back to the old-school ways.”
Rosberg added his support to the change. The German said: “I think can make it
a lot more interesting also because it used to be like 100 per cent
communication a while ago, now they’re only allowed to tell me like 20 per
cent of stuff now. So it’s a massive change.”
However, Williams’ Felippe Massa warned there would be a backlash in Friday’s
drivers’ meeting – seemingly one versus 21 – as he questioned the safety
implications of the move. The Brazilian said: “If it stays like this, it
will be a big fight tomorrow in the drivers’ briefing.
“You have so many things that we do in the car, that if you don’t do maybe you
put too much temperature in the rear brakes because the temperature gets too
high, and then you just have a fire in the car. Maybe you could have a big
accident.”
Meanwhile, if there is a fog of confusion as to what the radio clampdown will
mean for Sunday’s race, then there are also some more meteorological
concerns in Singapore.
Singapore’s National Environment Agency said air pollution had reached
unhealthy levels, after a change in the wind brought smoke from forest fires
on Indonesia’s Sumatra island, around 200 miles across the Malacca Strait.
Pollution levels rose above 100, at which point the air is described as
healthy, as 15:00 local time on Thursday, and continued to rise for the next
two hours. Advice on the agency’s website said “healthy people” should
“reduce prolonged or strenuous outdoor physical exertion” when haze levels
are over 100.
A spokesman for the Singapore Grand Prix said: “In the event that the haze
caused visibility, public health or operational issues, Singapore GP would
work closely with the relevant agencies before making any collective
decisions regarding the event.”