Teams ordered to add GPS system to cars
All 12 teams that are scheduled to compete in the 2010 Formula One season have been ordered to add an ultra sensitive GPS system to their cars. Every team has therefore received a bill for 60,000 Euro to rent the obligatory equipment.
Stewards have been increasingly criticised in recent years after poor judgement of driver actions on track. In order to improve the decision making, the data of the new GPS system will be directly transmitted to the race director, Charlie Whiting, and will allow them to track the position of every car to a precision of 1m.
Auto Motor und Sport have also learned that the FIA's new system also incorporates an automatic alarm. The race control will immediately be notified of a driver cutting a chicane or crossing a track line. A simple touch on the button then pops up all available camera positions about the incident, allow for a quick and correct decision to be made.
There are also plans to remove the flag signals along the track and replace them with coloured LED panels, signaling the flag colours to the drivers in an electronic way. Although very useful, the total set of controls will cost 750,000 Euro, a cost that has to be beared by the teams.
