“What we can’t do at the moment is help him with his driving style to find
time that way. It’s a half-way house. I think it’s pragmatic. Whether it’s
sensible or not I think is open to debate.”
While the move was supported by most of the drivers, Williams’ Felipe Massa
had expressed worries over safety given the dramatic nature of the radio
silence.
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.”
Messages still banned
* Driving lines on the circuit
* Contact with kerbs
* Comparative or absolute sector time detail of another driver
* Speeds in corners compared to another driver
* Gear selection in general
* Braking points
* Use of DRS compares with another driver
* Use of any overtake button
* Driving technique in general
It comes after Bernie Ecclestone promised a more stringent cracking on driving
aids in general, as part of a concerted attempt to make drivers’ lives
harder, as well as making them appear more gladiatorial.
A restriction on telemetry – a detailed statistical readout on information
about the car and the driver – as well as forcing drivers to decide on when
they make their pit stops, were suggested by Ecclestone. “They drive the
cars; they should know what is wrong or right,” he said. “They don’t need
someone on the pit wall telling them what to do.”
Amidst the suppression of radio traffic, Ecclestone also revealed that a
fundamental shakeup in the structure of F1 – to eight teams each with three
cars – was being seriously looked at. “We’ll know after the next two or
three races,” he said. F1’s supremo added that the much-hated double points
rule for the final race of the season will “probably” be scrapped for 2015.
– Ecclestone
confirms crackdown on radio traffic just the start
– Singapore
Grand Prix: Five talking points