Radio regs for 2016

[f1316]

Apologies if this has been discussed elsewhere but I'm not clear exactly what the new regulations for radio communication are this year?

Just came across this from Toto Wolf and it all sounds very positive to me:

http://m.autosport.com/news/report.php/ ... ate-errors

But equally I don't know the specifics so any clarification would be great

[bauc]

Here are the details as reported by Autosport

After questions over ambiguities on the list, the FIA found it necessary to issue a new version to the teams ahead of Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix.

Among the changes are more precise details over when certain messages can and cannot be transmitted.

The following is a list of messages allowed and disallowed under article 20.1 of the sporting regulations, which states "the driver shall drive the car alone and unaided".

Messages given on the track, in the pit entry or pit exit during reconnaissance laps, with a car deemed to be on a reconnaissance lap from the time it leaves the pitlane until the time it re-enters the pitlane or reaches its grid position:

1.You may tell the driver of a critical problem with the car, e.g. puncture warning or damage.

2. You may tell the driver of a problem with a competitor's car.

3. You may tell the driver to enter the pitlane in order to fix or retire the car.

4. You may give the driver marshalling information (yellow flag, red flag, race start aborted or other similar instructions or information from race control).

5. You may inform the driver about a wet track, oil or debris in certain corners.

6.You may tell the driver to respect the maximum laptime provided it is clear that he is in danger of exceeding it.

7. You may not tell the driver to drive through the pitlane.

8. You may not tell the driver to make his way to the back of the grid.

9. You may not discuss a balance check with the driver.

10. You may not tell the driver to turn off the car.

11. You may not carry out a radio check with the driver.

The teams are allowed to talk freely when the car is in the pitlane before or between any reconnaissance laps, and for added clarity the following specific requests are permitted:

1. You may give instructions to the driver for the following lap.

2. You may remind the driver to do a practice start at the pit exit.

3. You may discuss a balance check with the driver.

4. You may tell the driver to go to the back of the grid.

5.You may carry out a simple radio check handshake with the driver (i.e. "radio check", "got you loud and clear").

6. You may tell the driver to come back through the pitlane.

7. You may inform the driver of specific pitlane safety concerns such as the pitstop area being full of guests. This message (and only this message) may also be given in the pit entry.

Teams are also allowed to talk freely on the radio and pass any messages to a driver on the grid, or in the pitlane, until one minute before the start of the formation lap.

From the one-minute signal, and until the race-start signal, the only permitted messages are to tell a driver of a critical problem with the car, e.g. puncture warning or damage, or to inform him of a problem with a competitor's car.

[bhall II]

I think I've finally figured out how the regulations are devised.

Ideas for rules are written down on small notecards. The cards are then pinned to the walls of a small room. An autistic chimpanzee with stomach flu is led into that room and encouraged to randomly fling poo against the walls. The shittiest ideas are the ones that get codified to govern the sport.

In a series where the whole idea behind development is to make the cars faster and easier to drive, radio restrictions are senseless.

[ARF1]

They devote so much time and effort to tinkering at the edges to make the "sport" less "predictable", whilst the fundamentals remain broken. Let's make qualifying more complicated, radio messages more complicated, change launch procedures, change DRS zone lengths, change minimum tyre pressures, change wastegate pipes etc.

Why don't they just come out and ban Mercedes from winning. Or draw grid positions from a hat. Or better yet, draw each driver's car from a hat. That'll spice up "the show"!!

Meanwhile, rubbish tyres, boring tracks, saving fuel, no one pushing, too much dependence on wing aero, too expensive, too hard to watch (Pay TV, no online content) and a fundamentally broken financial model driving teams bankrupt...

[Italiano]

I think I've finally figured out how the regulations are devised.

Ideas for rules are written down on small notecards. The cards are then pinned to the walls of a small room. An autistic chimpanzee with stomach flu is led into that room and encouraged to randomly fling poo against the walls. The shittiest ideas are the ones that get codified to govern the sport.

In a series where the whole idea behind development is to make the cars faster and easier to drive, radio restrictions are senseless.

This is what I've felt for a while now, what with taking a dump on the perfectly okay qualy system and halos and other bollocks that keep cropping up.

10. You may not tell the driver to turn off the car.

Are you serious? What kind of dumbass thought of this? The teams can see if the car will destroy itself quite a bit sooner than the driver that has a million other things to deal with. But no, you must not tell him it's about to hit the fan and that it's best to stop somewhere safe and not kill the car and put someone in danger perhaps.

I mean come on!

[bhall II]

...qualifying more complicated, radio messages more complicated, change launch procedures, change DRS zone lengths, change minimum tyre pressures, change wastegate pipes etc.

All from a sport that no longer allows helmet livery changes, because fans are apparently confused by different colors.

[danielk]

So I am quite confused. So are teams not allowed to tell their drivers when to box either? This is for the drivers to chose? or will teams just send a communication to the drivers steering wheel? The whole Pit, Pit confirm Button?

or does that fall under "3. You may tell the driver to enter the pitlane in order to fix or retire the car." technically the car is broken... ie..its going slow coz tires are dead??

[dren]

This will be interesting if it puts everything into the hands of the driver. I can see teams having trouble with their drivers trying to out strategy the other on the fly.

[f1316]

Agree with the spirit of what's being said above - I.e. The least important things get changed and important things get either pontificated over or made worse - but actually don't mind this.

Telling the driver exactly when to do everything is like having the simulation modellers injected into his brain - I.e. There's no longer much room for error or variation. This is about humanising aspects of the sport and should allow more interesting racing between Mercedes drivers (if I'm reading it right).

I guess they can predetermine most of it but still should mean a certain amount more isolation for the driver; f1 fans often eulogise about MotoGP- a sport with no ship to shore.

[bhall II]

MotoGP is lauded because the physical feats remain impressive, and the bikes are still being elevated to levels not seen before.

Jorge Lorenzo produces the fastest ever lap by a motorcycle around the Circuito de Jerez to take his first pole of the [2015] season.

Marquez sets fastest ever recorded speed in MotoGP™ during the [2015] Commercial Bank Grand Prix of Qatar, 350.5kph (217.79mph) as he finishes 5th.

Formula 1, on the other hand, can be as much as 10s off the pace set by cars a decade ago.

If I was interested in "humanising aspects of the sport" - not the case, because F1 is not now, nor has it ever been, a driver's Championship - I'd probably feel like the powers-that-be are pissing on me while telling me it's raining with these ill-considered clerical changes ostensibly designed to answer calls for more demanding cars. It's patronizing, and it misses the point entirely.

[godlameroso]

The electronics on the bikes have regressed 10 years for this season, so much for progress.

[BanMeToo]

The radio regs were totally fine last year, after they banned driver coaching. That was a happy medium. No need to make it even more strict, arbitrary, inane, etc.

[f1316]

F1 is not now, nor has it ever been, a driver's Championship .

I think there are a lot of people - former drivers included - who feel as if the driver had a bigger input when he wasn't so guided over the radio.

Constantly being told at any stage of the race the required laptime/for how long/which engine setting to use/how far away to stay from the car essentially makes the driver an automaton, requiring no feel for tyres/circumstances nor ability to weigh the situation in their own mind.

I mention MotoGP, btw, since there was a particularly apt example of the difference radio communication has last year. I'm afraid I forget which race it was, but on a drying track Rossi (and to some extent Lorenzo) stayed on wet tyres long beyond the point where the laptimes of others showed the crossover point had been reached. They should have read their pit boards, sure, but even that is a far less detailed set of information than an F1 driver would get in the same situation. Likewise, Lorenzo would likely have been warned of the damp spots after coming out and safely/boringly not pushed too hard into his error.

And if F1 cars start breaking lap records next year, will it have solved all the ills of the sport? I doubt it. I'd like to see it but it's not the be all end all.

[f1316]

Formula 1, on the other hand, can be as much as 10s off the pace set by cars a decade ago.

So from what I can find, fastest ever qualifying lap at Melbourne is 1:23.919 by Vettel in 2010 (albeit Michael's in race lap record from 2004 is 1:24.125 so he could have gone faster if they'd qualified on low fuel in those days).

Be that as it may, Lewis' pole last year was 1:26.327; with super soft tyres and a year's development, I'd suggest a low 24 is quite possible this year, so that's really quite close. Given current estimates, they'll smash that next year.

Does it really make a difference? If other things remain the same - things which predetermine how the driver races - is it really important if fastest laps are being set?

[bhall II]

I think there are a lot of people - former drivers included - who feel as if the driver had a bigger input when he wasn't so guided over the radio.

From pitboards to radios to advanced telemetry, teams have always imparted to their drivers as much information as possible within the constraints of the technology available to them at the time. It was never an issue until last season.

What's changed aside from the cars now being as slow as molasses and relatively easy to drive?


via f1fanatic.co.uk

Like the helmet livery rule and permanent driver numbers, I personally think the radio rule is a tacit admission by F1's leaders that the sport is too lost, and the paddock too fractured, for meaningful reforms to take place. It's a pacifier.

And so I'm not just lobbing little grenades here...

It's not my brand of whiskey, but I do understand the allure of a series in which drivers are the unequivocal stars of the show; we're human, and humans tend to connect to other humans, not hardware*. I just don't agree with the logic used to justify the change. It's an unprecedented upheaval, however slight, and it represents yet another inconsistent technological regression from the same sport that banished fun engines because progress.

* insert Fleshlight joke here