The FIA has confirmed major reduction in radio communications for next season as it also seeks severe clampdown on telemetry.

In a bid to put the emphasis back on the driver, rather than the engineers and boffins on the pit-wall, garage and team HQ, from this weekend drivers will have to make their starts without outside assistance.

From the moment they leave the pitlane on Sunday and head to the grid the driver will need to fend for himself, with no assistance from his crew in relation to clutch bite points and the rest. Indeed, in the wake of two successive disastrous starts from the Mercedes duo, some are wondering whether this might be the turning point in the German outfit's fortunes.

Next season however, driver assistance will be even more limited, the FIA having written to all the teams advising not only the tough restrictions on radio traffic but even the desire to ban teletry that aids performance.

"Methods to limit the telemetry channels sent in real-time from the car to the pits will be investigated," said the sport's governing body in a letter sent to all the teams.

"The objective will be to restrict real-time data flow to signals essential to run the car. Any 'monitoring' or non-essential channels should only be logged to on-car memory."

The teams have also been advised of the radio communications that will be allowed from next season, any others likely to be considered a breach of Article 20.1 of the Sporting Regulations which states that "the driver must drive the car alone and unaided".

1. Indication of a critical problem with the car, e.g. puncture warning or damage.

2. Indication of a problem with a competitor's car.

3. Instruction to enter the pit lane in order to fix or retire the car.

4. Marshalling information (yellow flag, red flag, race start aborted or other similar instructions or information from race control).

5. Wet track, oil or debris in certain corners.

6. Instructions to swap position with other drivers.

7. Acknowledgement that a driver message has been heard.

8. Lap or sector time detail.

9. Lap time detail of a competitor.

10. Gaps to a competitor during a practice session or race.

11. "Push hard", "push now", "you will be racing xx" or similar.

12. Helping with warning of traffic during a practice session or race.

13. Giving the gaps between cars in qualifying so as to better position the car for a clear lap.

14. Tyre choice at the next pit stop.

15. Number of laps a competitor has done on a set of tyres during a race.

16. Tyre specification of a competitor.

17. Information concerning a competitor's likely race strategy.

18. Safety Car window.

19. Driving breaches by team driver or competitor, e.g. missing chicanes, running off track, time penalty will be applied etc.

20. Notification that DRS is enabled or disabled.

21. Dealing with a DRS system failure.

22. Change of front wing position at the next pit stop.

23. Oil transfer.

24. When to enter the pits.

25. Reminders to check for white lines, bollards, weighbridge lights when entering or leaving the pits.

26. Reminders about track limits.

27. Passing on messages from race control.

28. Information concerning damage to the car.

29. Number of laps remaining.

30. Test sequence information during practice sessions, e.g. aero-mapping.

31. Weather information.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Paul C, 01/09/2015 11:51

"Half of this information is necessary and half is not. The teams need to sort this out before F1 is less technical than karting."

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2. Posted by Paul C, 23/08/2015 6:03

"Who needs the dead weight of a radio in F1 with these rules?"

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3. Posted by Spindoctor, 21/08/2015 12:11

"If the telemetry restrictions are imposed this will be yet more arrant stupidity from "Probably the dumbest Sports organisation in the World"

None of this dross will make the cars any faster, the racing any closer, the cars any more challenging to drive nor consequently, and MOST IMPORTANTLY the spectacle any better.

I can just about understand the desire to limit chit-chat between Driver & Team, though looking through the "approved list" (or are these the banned communications, it's hard to know?) its hard to see what's changed significantly from status quo.....

The proposed telemetry ban is yet another attempt[t to go back to a previous era, but as the wise man said: "You can't swim in the same river twice.."

Modern F1 cars are designed based on the assumption that the car can extensively monitored, in detail by the Team. This is particularly true of the Hybrid-powered cars now in use. Compared to these, the Cosworth V8-powered cars were like a Spitfire compared to a Eurofighter: pilots\drivers loved the "feel" and they were very exciting, but that was then, this is now.
Modern F1 cars simply can't work effectively without the telemetry that lets the Team know the state of various vital components. Even previous generation V8 cars monitored vast numbers of parameters on both the power plant & the chassis.

So instead of piddling about at the edges and creating even more complex rules & restrictions, FIA needs to take a serious look how to embody the essence of racing in the rules, without compromising safety. A brief look at MotoGP might be instructive - Niki Lauda certainly thinks so....."

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4. Posted by RDFox, 21/08/2015 2:30

"@Insane Reindeer: At least in NASCAR, the reason for not fitting a fuel gauge (as opposed to a fuel pressure gauge) is simple--the fuel cell used in NASCAR is filled with a sort of foam material that holds the fuel inside of it and allows it to drain into the fuel pickup, but helps prevent fuel spillage if the tank is ruptured in a crash. With 18 US gallons (a bit over 68 liters) of 98-octane unleaded E-10 gasohol on board and the fuel tank located abaft the rear axle, this is considered a major safety issue, so the foam won't go away.

This foam material also makes fitting a float-type fuel gauge impossible; this means that the only "fuel gauge" the driver has is the fuel pressure gauge, which will generally start fluctuating about two miles before the car runs out of fuel completely. Since NASCAR teams generally fully fill their tanks on every pit stop, they can easily track fuel economy by determining how much fuel was put into the car on a given stop, and thus plan for a possible short-fill on the final stop of the race.

By the way, last I knew, F1 cars don't have conventional fuel gauges, either. Nor do any other purpose-built circuit racing vehicles I know of. Some will have fuel "totalizers," which are basically fuel flow sensors that indicate how much fuel has been used since the last time it was reset, which can be used to determine how much fuel is left, assuming the initial load is known and all refueling volumes are tracked, but, in general, the exact amount of fuel on board is useless information to the driver and thus a normal fuel gauge is not fitted, as the driver is already going to be suffering information overload."

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5. Posted by Insane Reindeer, 20/08/2015 16:33

"This is getting stupid now. We don't want less technology we want more! If I want to watch a sport living in the dark ages I can either go watch NASCAR (what the hell is so wrong with fitting a fuel gauge to a race car?) or any number of events run with cars from yesteryear! No. I want to watch a Formula 1 where the cars are the bleeding edge of technology. No I don't care what they sound like. Yes they should have more fuel/less fuel restrictions. No I do not want a return to mid race refueling. But above all else I want the FIA to make the teams communication's just between the team and the car. I don't want to hear them. It destroys the racing. It gives the opposition far to many opportunities that they haven't had to work for. If Red Bull want to know what Mercedes are talking about, for example, then it should be up to Red Bull to hack Mercedes' communication network! The drivers have always conferred on all sorts of subjects with their teams, hell I watch old footage of Stirling Moss taking a pit stop and you can see him having incredibly animated conversations with his team! I bet there wasn't a guy standing there with a check list of things he could and couldn't talk about.

No, all of this is just yet another dumb move aimed at making F1 "easier" for the casual fan to follow and robbing the dedicated fan of another element that makes F1 the sport I love so much.

I suppose if the FIA succeed in forcing these moronic rules on F1 it would be only fair for them to be adapted and forced on every other branch of motorsport that the FIA sanction... Will go down a storm in rally raid I bet! :-("

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6. Posted by Fast_ian, 20/08/2015 15:58

"Seems like baby steps in the right direction.

Does anyone know if the telemetry restrictions will also apply to FP & qualy or just the race? Personally, I'd vote for the latter - Let the boffins work their magic in the former, but once on track for the race, they're "on their own". At least beyond the long list of still permitted comms!

Cheers,
Ian"

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7. Posted by alejandro.torres.1991, 20/08/2015 13:35

"Kimi will be the happiest driver after this. Nothing a "leave me alone, i know what i'm doing" can't fix.

ps. Felipe, anything to add to item 7?
"

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8. Posted by Editor, 20/08/2015 13:16

"@ bfairey...

In actual fact, "The whole thing is getting stupid" is radio message 32"

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9. Posted by bfairey, 20/08/2015 13:12

"The whole thing is getting stupid."

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