no more help for the drivers

[Morteza]

I found this on F1fanatic.co.uk blog:

[hollus]

Dear rookies and prospective 1 race substitute drivers:

You are going to drive cars that have more functions than a 747.
You are going to drive cars that have 200 sensors and a tiny single display.
You are going to drive cars where all inputs are fly-by-wire and have maps.
You are only allowed to test the actual cars, for a few hours the friday and saturday of the race, for many of you this will be your first time in the car. And you'll do this with a limited number of tires available, limited engine mileage and limited gearboxes.
And you are going to drive the car alone and unaided.

Enjoy.

Sincerely,

F.I.A.

[Kingshark]

Yes:
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/115824

Allowed
- Telling a driver when he is allowed to or meant to stop for new tyres
- Team orders in terms of overtaking or letting a team-mate past
- Warning a driver about the traffic situation during qualifying and the race
- Safety warning relating to yellow flags or dangerous situations on the track

I suspect that the drivers and engineers will likely use prepared code-words to communicate things which they aren't allowed to communicate.

For instance:
"OK Nico, the soft tyres are available for Lewis"
Is a pre-planned codeword for "save fuel, you are marginal"

I could actually see them be clever enough to use such disguised codes to make their messages to the driver "legal".

[strad]

I doubt most could keep very many codes straight.

[marcush.]

even more emphasis on simulator work - i think this is one one of the fields you can really gain an advantage with the miriads of possible settings and combinations..its a waste of time to learn all this in a real car and i cannot fathom anyone capable to memorize all the knobs and controls possibilities AND drive at the limit AND race competitors ..
So more time i preparation required to get the driver to the point of actually knowing what to adjust and how much in relation to the cars change in behaviour. Let´s see who the workhorses are ...

[turbof1]

You better ask for drivers to have an engineering degree; in the future they'll need to assemble their own car too.

[mikeerfol]

So no info on the pit boards as well http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/115888

[db__]

I wonder if the new rules cover communication during a pit stop - there could be opportunity (ok ~ 3 seconds isn't long but they are stationary ) to put information on the lollipop or replace the new traffic light systems with messages?

[bauc]

WHAT IS NOT ALLOWED
- Any message that appears to be coded.

Well this is interesting how will the stewards recognize if a message is coded???? You can have for example: Fernando is faster than you etc.....I'm guessing this will cause a huge controversy in the races.

[theblackangus]

Dear rookies and prospective 1 race substitute drivers:

You are going to drive cars that have more functions than a 747.
You are going to drive cars that have 200 sensors and a tiny single display.
You are going to drive cars where all inputs are fly-by-wire and have maps.
You are only allowed to test the actual cars, for a few hours the friday and saturday of the race, for many of you this will be your first time in the car. And you'll do this with a limited number of tires available, limited engine mileage and limited gearboxes.
And you are going to drive the car alone and unaided.

Enjoy.

Sincerely,

F.I.A.

Funny part is the way you put it that sounds exciting to me...it sounded like you said "challenge". There will still be a line a mile long and I know I would be in it. =P

[theblackangus]

even more emphasis on simulator work - i think this is one one of the fields you can really gain an advantage with the miriads of possible settings and combinations..its a waste of time to learn all this in a real car and i cannot fathom anyone capable to memorize all the knobs and controls possibilities AND drive at the limit AND race competitors ..
So more time i preparation required to get the driver to the point of actually knowing what to adjust and how much in relation to the cars change in behaviour. Let´s see who the workhorses are ...

This response is to all the people who are talking about the cars complexity.
IMHO I would hope every drive already knows what every button and knob does, its part of their job....
In a competition you use every tool at your disposal, and the most important tool is knowledge of the car and how it operates.

I have played video games with more control's being used far more actively than an F1 car. Example ARMA III has literally a hundred + controls/options, and before that Tribes 1/2 I used around 136 keys/combinations with roughly 50-75 of those used multiple times per match.

It just doesn't seem like a top level driver should have a hard time with this at all.

[Gaz.]

I wonder if the new rules cover communication during a pit stop - there could be opportunity (ok ~ 3 seconds isn't long but they are stationary ) to put information on the lollipop or replace the new traffic light systems with messages?

Further to that, is it during each session throughout, or while the car is outside the pitlane? It'd be a bit mad if Tony Ross had to leave the pitwall to tell Rosberg about his brakes when he's sat in the garage and strapped into the car, but Ross can't give that info over the airwaves. More clarification required.

[turbof1]

even more emphasis on simulator work - i think this is one one of the fields you can really gain an advantage with the miriads of possible settings and combinations..its a waste of time to learn all this in a real car and i cannot fathom anyone capable to memorize all the knobs and controls possibilities AND drive at the limit AND race competitors ..
So more time i preparation required to get the driver to the point of actually knowing what to adjust and how much in relation to the cars change in behaviour. Let´s see who the workhorses are ...

This response is to all the people who are talking about the cars complexity.
IMHO I would hope every drive already knows what every button and knob does, its part of their job....
In a competition you use every tool at your disposal, and the most important tool is knowledge of the car and how it operates.

I have played video games with more control's being used far more actively than an F1 car. Example ARMA III has literally a hundred + controls/options, and before that Tribes 1/2 I used around 136 keys/combinations with roughly 50-75 of those used multiple times per match.

It just doesn't seem like a top level driver should have a hard time with this at all.

The issue isn't what each individual control does. More often then not settings need to be changed through a combination of the controls. You probably have hundreds of options through combinations. That's still doable when you need to do a theoritical exam about it, but in the middle of a race very difficult.

[Just_a_fan]

Dear rookies and prospective 1 race substitute drivers:

You are going to drive cars that have more functions than a 747.
You are going to drive cars that have 200 sensors and a tiny single display.
You are going to drive cars where all inputs are fly-by-wire and have maps.
You are only allowed to test the actual cars, for a few hours the friday and saturday of the race, for many of you this will be your first time in the car. And you'll do this with a limited number of tires available, limited engine mileage and limited gearboxes.
And you are going to drive the car alone and unaided.

Enjoy.

Sincerely,

F.I.A.

Funny part is the way you put it that sounds exciting to me...it sounded like you said "challenge". There will still be a line a mile long and I know I would be in it. =P

These guys are in it for one thing - to win. It's not about " the challenge" it's about winning.

The changes are about trying to slow Mercedes down so that the others have a chance. By making it more likely that a given driver will be sidelined by an issue the hope is that others will pick up the crumbs. Bernie will like that because it makes the title race longer. The FIA are just bowing to pressure from the teams that can't win as the game was played last week. They want change to give them a chance. That's not "challenge"; that's goalpost moving.

[NTS]

It's a bit strange to call this a choice by "the teams not winning", sounds like you're a Mercedes spokesman. Everyone agrees that "brake earlier into turn 11 and earlier apex" is not a welcome part of the sport. There was already a rule in place against it so others asked the FIA to enforce it. That's not about moving to goalposts, but about calling out a practise that we all agree should not be part of the sport. The only thing the FIA did very FIA-like is to overshoot the target and ban everything instead of just driving instructions.