Drivers concerned over safety during wet weather races, Mosley not
David Coulthard, Jenson Button and Felipe Massa have opened a discussion with the FIA to talk about the wet weather safety in 2008. According to our colleagues at autosport, the drivers have serious concerns about racing in the rain without the help of traction control.
David Coulthard declared to autosport: "Fernando Alonso aquaplaned off the road in Fuji - even with TC. The electronics still couldn't support him - and that will happen a lot more without traction control because Formula One engines are very peaky.
"We don't want to see a monstrous shunt where somebody rides over another car, goes into the crowd or has an accident like Alex Zanardi at the Lausitzring in 2001.
"I'm very relaxed about how Charlie operates. He may have made some difficult decisions – but he's only reacting on the information he's had. He doesn't have the spray we have – when you're flat out at 180mph you see simply nothing.
"But I'm confident Charlie will do the right thing based on us helping and advising him and that's why we've started a dialogue now rather than trying to react afterwards."
Not only David Coulthard has expressed his concerns, but also Jenson Button believes that it will be extremely dangerous to race in the rain without TC: "The only worry I have about driving without traction control is racing in wet conditions. It's going to be very dangerous. We couldn't have raced in Fuji without traction control, there would have been people spinning on the straight."
Also Felipe Massa wants to find a solution for the safety problem: "In terms of safety, this is a big step backwards. For sure, we will have more accidents and racing in wet conditions will be very dangerous.
"I've spoken with Michael Schumacher and several other drivers and they've told me it will be more dangerous driving a car without TC now than it was in the past. Another race like Fuji would be very dangerous."
Although the drivers fear for their safety, the safety of their colleagues, the fans and the marshals, Max Mosley doesn't seem concerned at all. According to the President of the FIA, the safety during wet races will not be any less because of the traction control ban.
"Driving in the wet is quite dangerous, with or without traction control. It's dangerous in the sense that you're likely to go off but you're less likely to hurt yourself because the speeds will be lower. That was always the theory of the grooved tyre because you reduced the grip and the severity of the accident.
"Imagine, in the most extreme circumstances, holding the British Grand Prix at Silverstone on packed snow – nobody would get hurt because nobody would ever get up to enough speed to do any damage!
"It will make it more difficult in the wet – but it's difficult in the wet anyway. And people forget, even the least competent F1 driver is still amazingly good at what he does. And it won't cause any of them much trouble."
