Radio regs for 2016

[ChrisM40]

Artificial rules are stupid and painfully obvious to viewers. Rather than having radio bans they should change the cars to reduce how useful any communication is. As has been said, simplify the car, reduce telemetry.

F1 used to be about pushing the cars and the technology to the limit, now its all about making the most powerful eco friendly games console on wheels.

Right now the cars are about as fast as they have ever been, the TV coverage is about the most detailed and in depth its ever been and the depth of talent in the field is about as good as its ever been, and yet I struggle to stay awake for the races.

[giantfan10]

First the fans moaned about drivers being coached so the FIA created rules to combat that. Now the fans are moaning about the rules they themselves helped create.
I personally could care less about the the radio clampdown rules and what engineers can or cant tell drivers. i'm interested in watching cars compete on a level playing field come race day and since the rules are the same for all teams i'm all for them.

2. Indication of a problem with the car, any message of this sort must include an irreversible instruction to enter the pits to rectify the problem or to retire the car.

in checos situation the team would have been able to tell him about the imminent brake failure which would have forced a mandatory pit stop... is that not a better solution than not being able to tell him at all?
in Rosbergs case his mandatory pit stop would have lost him some more places instead of the 1 he lost due to penalty
works for me ... i dont see what all the complaining is about

[dans79]

i dont see what all the complaining is about

The fans complained about driver A being told what settings/line Driver B was using in a given corner/strait. In other words, no coaching.

What I and many fans are complaining about now is the absolutely moronic rule changes the FIA implemented. Instead of no coaching we have almost no communication at all of any type. Whiting, Todt, & Ecclestone, are all a bunch of adjectives and expletives I'm not aloud to type!

[giantfan10]

i dont see what all the complaining is about

The fans complained about driver A being told what settings/line Driver B was using in a given corner/strait. In other words, no coaching.

What I and many fans are complaining about now is the absolutely moronic rule changes the FIA implemented. Instead of no coaching we have almost no communication at all of any type. Whiting, Todt, & Ecclestone, are all a bunch of adjectives and expletives I'm not aloud to type!

and that changes what exactly on the track?
The whole the FIA are stupid debate i'm not interested in because i think its pointless.
i agree with Rosberg completely in todays presser
Q: What is your view on the radio rules in Formula One at the minute?

NicoR: It’s not something I think about, it’s not something I have an opinion on – because I just want to make the best of what we have and let the people decide what’s best. It’s come about because fans have said we’re like puppets out there, y’know, just doing what the engineers are saying. So now we’re trying this, and I think it’s OK. It makes it more challenging for us out on track, which is good. So it’s fine.

Q: Did you feel you were a puppet when you were on track before the radio ban?

NicoR: No! But I can understand a little bit the frustration of the fans because there was a lot going on and the engineers were giving us a lot of advice, so I can understand that, yeah.

[basti313]

i dont see what all the complaining is about

The fans complained about driver A being told what settings/line Driver B was using in a given corner/strait. In other words, no coaching.

What I and many fans are complaining about now is the absolutely moronic rule changes the FIA implemented. Instead of no coaching we have almost no communication at all of any type. Whiting, Todt, & Ecclestone, are all a bunch of adjectives and expletives I'm not aloud to type!

For me it is surprising, that people can be so emotional about such a side note rule change. Usually I see this only when you want to find out which driver weirdo is the best...

And I really do not get your point. You want to restrict the coaching, but not too much? This should work?
I personally like the clarification they did now. If they think it is a serious problem, they need to tell, then the car goes through the pit lane. Better than stopping cars on the track.

[dans79]

And I really do not get your point. You want to restrict the coaching, but not too much? This should work?

Race craft coaching (Rob Wilson style) should not be allowed, that is after all what the drivers are being paid to do. I have no problem with tech support!

[dans79]

For me it is surprising, that people can be so emotional about such a side note rule change. Usually I see this only when you want to find out which driver weirdo is the best...

Well, that's what F1 is all about. lets not forget, the WCC didn't come into existence until 8 years after the WDC.

[scuderiafan]

How hard is it to create rules that prevent the team from coaching the drivers (i.e. "use gear 3 through corner 5"), without preventing the teams from helping drivers resolve technical issues with the cars?

I'd be interested to see how the FiA or whoever comes up with Formula One rules. I cannot imagine any of the committee members are that interested in F1. If they were, the fans would be much happier.

Maybe the teams/drivers need to strike and put it to the big wigs...

[zac510]

I'm happy with the changes the FIA have made this week If you 'test' it against the 3 controversial scenarios we've had this year; Hamilton would have lost less time (by switching switched to some fresh tyres at the same time as resolving the engine problem much faster), Perez would have retired his car in one piece rather than 1000 pieces and Rosberg would have suffered a slightly larger time penalty for a gearbox issue that was sold over the radio as terminal but after the race shown that it wasn't.

As a viewer, pulling into the pits to resolve a problem makes plenty of sense. That's what the pit crew do - fix problems (I realise that they don't have to actually stop in the pit box). The team also suffers the time penalty on the track rather than after the race, so the race order is not changed after the race.
The teams can change to fresh tyres to mitigate the time loss.

Blocking telemetry and blocking team radio to solve tech problems are both basically the same thing. If there were no telemetry back to the pits, the driver would still have to resolve the problem with the car themselves or the car would resolve it itself. I think it's really down to the teams to crack on and simplify these cars themselves. With this generation of cars the FIA have given the teams the chance to make a Rubiks cube with as many side as they like and they've chosen to make one with 100 squares on each side instead of 9. Now everyone is complaining that it's too hard to solve.
We really can't complain that the FIA rules are too restrictive and then also complain when they don't introduce rules to make the cars simpler.

I don't envy the rulemakers that try to keep fans happy anyway; as soon as they please the fans, more fans just pop up and whinge about the next thing they don't like. F1 Is an infinite whack-a-mole of whinging fans.

[henry]

It appears to me that these tinkerings with the rules are an attempt by the FIA to try to fix the perceived boredom of Mercedes domination.

It seemed like Mercedes had a silver bullet in their interconnected suspension. So they banned it.

Once or twice a year Mercedes had problems getting the tyres to work. So they've increased the tyre selection permutations in the hope that Mercedes will fail their tyre optimisation more frequently.

And when the fans complained about driver coaching they saw an opportunity to amplify another Mercedes "weakness". A few times each season Mercedes cars had a technical problem that needed resolution by the assistance engineers on the pit wall. So let's write a regulation, actually a technical directive, that makes it possible for some of these technical problems to reign in Mercedes. They almost managed it at Silverstone. But they let the cat out of the bag. The cost of resolving a technical problem was set at 10 seconds. So now they've set the cost at a drive through plus any time spent lost while nursing the car to the pits.

The engineering teams will respond. Far from reducing the complexity they will work harder at getting the car to avoid problems or fix them or help the driver fix them. More code, more testing, more technical excellence. That's what F1 is about.

But it will take time. In introducing this change halfway through the season they have created an opportunity to decide the WDC by requiring one of the contenders to limp into the pits for a relatively trivial fix. Such as "chassis default 001". The FIA might, at that point, melt the Internet.

[basti313]

For me it is surprising, that people can be so emotional about such a side note rule change. Usually I see this only when you want to find out which driver weirdo is the best...

Well, that's what F1 is all about. lets not forget, the WCC didn't come into existence until 8 years after the WDC.

No, F1 has changed. In former times it was (sometimes) a driver vs. another driver from another team. Now only the car defines which driver can win the WDC. And to be honest...I think the "top" drivers are a bunch of weirdos....sitting in a cart all childhood instead of seeing your friends on the weekend leaves its traces.

[basti313]

How hard is it to create rules that prevent the team from coaching the drivers (i.e. "use gear 3 through corner 5"), without preventing the teams from helping drivers resolve technical issues with the cars?

Is "do not use 6th gear in turn 7" a technical help or driver coaching? Is all this engine mode switching technical help or just avoiding intra team battles?
No, I think the "no help at all and if you need help come to the pits" solution is the only solution that might work. We were already too much discussing if avoiding breakdowns is ok or not.

But it will take time. In introducing this change halfway through the season they have created an opportunity to decide the WDC by requiring one of the contenders to limp into the pits for a relatively trivial fix. Such as "chassis default 001". The FIA might, at that point, melt the Internet.

If I see it correctly most fixes a driver can do is "chassis" or "driver default"...so how hard can it be? These guys are earning millions and are not able to read and remember a 200 pages manual? I am not earning millions and as I am doing technical coachings I need to know every word in several manuals...200 pages is the smallest.
Maybe the future WDC is deceided by who reads the manual of the car instead of hanging his balls into his million dollar pool...

[zac510]

The last couple of years I've followed NASCAR a bit (not on TV, I don't have that choice) and they are very experimental with aerodynamic packages. One weekend they'll say "all cars have to have x-dimension splitter and spoiler for this circuit" then they'll analyze the performance of it (looking at metrics like drafting, overtaking) and decide whether to introduce the rule for future races. The experimentation is valuable I think, and we fans should be more tolerant of F1 experimenting with different rules. Of course this radio rule was initially written poorly, but now they've learnt from the mistake and can improve it.

[zac510]

No, F1 has changed. In former times it was (sometimes) a driver vs. another driver from another team. Now only the car defines which driver can win the WDC.

Honestly the car and team has been a dominant part of Formula 1 for many decades. Get the rosy-coloured glasses off!
The best scenario is one brilliant and not-so-brilliant driver in the same team. Then it doesn't look like the car is so dominant

[notsofast]

There is an inherent conflict in F1, in that there's a driver's championship and a constructor's championship. In one corner we have those who want to see the best drivers battling each other. They want less involvement from the pit wall. They want to leave it up to the drivers to get the best out of the car. In the other corner we have those who want to see the best engineering. They want the teams to construct the best car. They want to see the teams rewarded for the best technology and innovation.

The key point to understand is that this conflict is necessary for F1 to survive. If the driver's side were to become dominant, F1 would essentially become the equivalent of yet another spec series. If the constructor's side were to become dominant, every F1 race would become a procession without any overtaking.

While we might prefer peace, love, and understanding, it is actually this conflict that allows F1 to continue to exist.