FIA clampdown on radio traffic goes even further in 2016 - Charlie Whiting clarifies radio rules yet again
Published by Christine
The FIA have been trying to restrict what teams advise their drivers over the radio during races and sessions since the end of 2014, and ahead of the Australian Grand Prix this weekend, they’ve issued some new guidance on the subject. Race director Charlie Whiting sent a new directive to the teams instructing them on further radio restrictions.
Permitted messages include acknowledgements of messages received, information about critical damage or problems, race control messages, very limited lap time information for a driver and about competitors, team orders, and instructions to push harder or pull back.
Coded messages, encouragement and strategy calls are all banned. Charlie Whiting said: “We think the driver should be driving the car alone and shouldn’t have as much help from the engineers. The main thing is they can’t be told about their own strategy, for example. They can’t be told power unit settings, to change the state of charge, mixtures. Anything like that is forbidden.”
