A fresh clampdown on radio communications during Formula One races has been branded as “unnecessary” and “strange” by the drivers in the lead-up to Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix.
Governing body FIA will restrict messaging between drivers and pit walls in a number of areas, including flagging up positions of other cars during qualifying, as part of a crackdown mooted nearly two years ago.
Some team officials, including Mercedes motorsport head Toto Wolff, have welcomed the move to put more race management and strategy in the drivers’ hands, saying it would make races less predictable and more exciting.
But McLaren’s two-time world champion Fernando Alonso was dismissive of the idea that drivers would have more control over their fate on track.
“Instead of instinct from the driver, we will follow what we agreed two hours before the race,” Alonso told reporters in the paddock at Albert Park yesterday.
“It’s strange the direction that they are going... in the era of communication and technology, F1 try to restrict it, which is probably not the normal way to go.”
Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg also felt the radio bans were out of tune.
“It’s going to make it more challenging at times,” he said.
“It has a big influence... It’s gone to the extent of not being able to tell us that our strategies have changed.
“So if I change from a three-stop to a two-stop, I’m driving flat out thinking I’m stopping in two laps and then they’re just not going to pull me into the box (pits), and my tyres are going to be done.”