Radio ban potentially dangerous – Hamilton

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In the round-up: Lewis Hamilton suggests the restrictions on radio communications could potentially be dangerous.

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Many were unimpressed to see Hamilton was allowed to change one of his damaged tyres before the start of the race:

In a sport where driver mistakes go increasingly unpunished (huge run-offs, lenient track limits etc) it does get a bit frustrating that a driver can have an appalling qualifying session, ruin his tyres in the process, but then not carry that over as a disadvantage to the race.
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106 comments on “Radio ban potentially dangerous – Hamilton”

  1. 43 Brett Road

    1. 221B Baker Street

    2. 10 Downing Street

    3. Beverly Hills 90210

      1. I feel we no longer need to address this issue.

  2. No idea how an erroneous setting in the engine can be “dangerous”. If it was really dangerous, he could’ve gone to the pits and stop. Or fix it. But he decided to keep driving, his choice.

    If the teams make this cars this complicated without acknowledging that the drivers have to sort out all the settings themselves, then maybe they should make it more user-friendly. Or less complex. They are engineers after all, they have to sort it out, as a team. And the driver has to learn to cope with what he’s given.

    Sure, it was a technical issue, but so is a leaky gearbox or broken water pump, and no one can help you there either.

    I thought it was only your rivals that moaned too much, Lewis!

    1. I would guess that he believes scrolling through dozens and dozens of menu options while driving around at 200mph+ is dangerous. I would agree with him and I’m sure Kimi would too.

      1. simple, do not toutch the menus and keep on driving. In hindsight it wa sonly 0.2 seconds he gained affter he found the right setting.
        So, lots of useless talking about nothing. The frustration of a driver that hopes for more and is looking for a cause outside is own ;)

        1. 0.2 secs? he was howering around 1.48-49 a lap, and when found the settings, it was a 1.46.. lap and it was the fastest lap of the race, which some laps later rosberg bettered… it was significant… 0.2 secs a lap is harsh already, but i think it was probably 0.2 secs a corner… as you are low on speed, lag on turbo, you rely more on boost from electric engines to compensate for the turbo lag…

    2. Although in the article he never says dangerous, which is some good journalism going on there.

    3. *double sigh* This is getting tiring..
      Lewis opens mouth, people like you start bashing. Why do you feel the need to write such criticism? I mean, you’ve taken time out of your day to criticise someone (let alone a triple world champion) who could not possibly care any less about what you think!
      I don’t get it!?!

      1. …and you’ve taken time out of your day to criticize someone’s criticism? :)

        Well I mean on a serious note, the Reuters article is a bit of smart journalism however I understand @fer-no65 point.

      2. As @neelv27 says. This is the comments section on a F1 site, where we all voice our opinions. Take care!

        1. Well while you keep criticising, I’ll keep admiring! Because actually, what he was attempting to do at a new race track with speeds in excess of 200mph I think is pretty remarkable.

          If you’ve tried to anything at 200+mph (other than reach for your keyboard) you’ll understand that to do anything else other than focus is oh wait… DANGEROUS. Which I believe is what he was saying.

          Good day!

    4. This is the guy who criticised the halo because F1 was all about the danger?

    5. Yep…..some cheese to go with that wine?

    6. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
      20th June 2016, 14:14

      It’s like texting for the entire race in a city driving at 200 miles per hour. Very dangerous in my opinion.

      Race Control should have intervened and allowed communication and probably should be penalized for not allowing them to communicate. You got to hold them accountable just as we hold drivers accountable. This is exactly what the drivers were talking about – how do I fix the car without knowing what’s wrong? Even the most technically savvy person uses google to resolve their computer issues.

      The rule itself has the potential to become fatal!!!

      1. @freelittlebirds if it was so dangerous, why didn’t he come into the pits to fix it? he decided to keep driving at top speed.

        A brake failure is also dangerous and you don’t see them going fast when that happens. They stop.

        It was his own decision. The problem wasn’t terminal, and he still finished the race. Otherwise, he’d have parked it

        1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
          20th June 2016, 16:32

          @fer-no65 Well, this is an unknown issue where a driver doesn’t know what is wrong with the car. They can usually tell if the brakes go off or the tyres go bad. Sure you can retire but obviously Hamilton didn’t have to do that because the car needs a different setting.

          Should he have had to pit to change a setting to correct the car’s pace? That’s a different question altogether. Not a fan of the idea though because this is not a mechanical issue. You can’t fix tyres over radio – if they could, they would. You can’t fix front wings over the radio either. But changing the setting because there is an obvious issue with your car – that’s a no brainer.

          1. @freelittlebirds my point is that things are dangerous when they are out of control.

            It’s dangerous when a drain cover isn’t fully attached. It’s dangerous when a crane is on the racetrack without a VSC or SC. It’s dangerous when a crashed car is in the middle of the road and the race isn’t yellow flagged.

            Is it dangerous to have a problem with your car? only if it gets to a point where you have to stop. And if you don’t stop, then maybe it’s not dangerous and you can work around the problem or you’re taking a risk by not stopping.

            Drivers have problems inside the cockpit at all times. Be it the tyres falling off, software glitches, or water bottles not working at places like Bahrain. We could say that not being able to drink properly in a very hot race is very dangerous.

            But they are able to stop if it gets to a certain point. Going through all submenues in your steering while going 200 mph is dangerous, sure, I’d not do it!. But he also could’ve pitted to fix it if he wanted. That’d have cost him time, of course, but you can’t have it all your way, because the rules state that engineers in the pitwall can’t help the drivers. And that’s the way things are.

            It’s not because of the rules that such thing is dangerous, it’s because the problem existed and Hamilton’s not able to fix it alone.

        2. @fer-no65 I think the situation Hamilton is talking about is the “knock on effect” or “cascading effect” some faults have, so you start with a minor problem, and the consequences of that cause another problem, and the consequences of that turn into a big problem. If the driver is made aware of the problem, then it could be the driver is able to change the way they drive and so avoid the cascading effect of the problem.
          From what has been said, it sounds like there was little danger of the problem “cascading” from a minor problem to a major one.
          I must admit I was surprised at Hamilton’s “hurry up” request, he should know that getting the right answer is more important than being quick.

        3. Two reasons – one, it cannot be fixed ‘in the pits’ and two, how would that help anybody? He had a configuration problem set in the pits. He had no idea what it was and spent some time trying to resolve it with no help. Did they ask him? No! Wonder why? No? Just some bashing…

      2. Flávio B would have found a way to tell Lewis :)
        Flávio would have heads up display on the helmet visor and we would be none the wiser :)

      3. @freelittlebirds ‘It’s like texting for the entire race in a city driving at 200 mph.’ That is a huge exaggeration of what actually happened, so perhaps consider rethinking the severity of the situation.

    7. Driving an f1 car is dangerous let’s stop it. Bet this type of issue has hit others further down the grid before and it was a none issue. Personally no buttons or screens in the car would be best and settings automatically controlled from pit wall under FIA supervision but that’s not how it is at the moment and is the same for everyone. Fighter pilots have a lot of buttons to press I always loved the thought of that as a kid so in other ways it is exciting…a racing car….with lots of buttons.

    1. OmarRoncal - Go Seb!!! (@)
      20th June 2016, 1:48

      @neelv27 you were spot on yesterday.

      1. Well I understand to some degree where Lewis is coming from on this matter @omarr-pepper. Surely his pace was not unleashed due to him not getting the optimal settings and his frustrations at a stringent ban which is on account of complexities of systems as well as teams trying to find loopholes in a radio ban via coded messages. I think it was just an unfortunate turn of events.

        I however did not appreciate his statements about other drivers “not having balls” comment. In his quest to emulate a bit of Senna, you cannot be harsh on other drivers who were merely making a safety observation. No driver said that the track is ‘too dangerous to drive’, they merely pointed out some loopholes in safety in regards to the barriers.

        When Bianchi dies, I never heard Lewis say that “you require balls to drive in rain at Suzuka” because it was a sensitive issue. Based on such incidents (didn’t we lost Loius Salom because of that?), other drivers were merely pointing that out and if drivers like Alonso, Button, Rosberg and Vettel speak, you better listen rather than label them as ‘moaners’!

        That’s why I was furious with that attitude of his yesterday! Was just a personal opinion though and I still stand by it!

        1. “I however did not appreciate his statements about other drivers “not having balls” comment.”

          I can’t find anywhere that Hamilton said other drivers didn’t have balls, care to back up that statement with a link or is it just something you made up to bash him with?

          1. I thought you’d have read it already but for your aid, here is the link.

            https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/jun/17/f1-baku-lewis-hamilton

          2. Maybe you should have read it! Hamilton doesn’t say in that article that the other drivers don’t have balls. Guess you are just another one making stuff up it seems!

          3. “You need balls through here, just like in Monaco. One thing for sure, these drivers they moan so much about so many damn things.”

            Well this about statement is an indirect reference to other drivers not having balls. That’s how I interpret.

            Anyway, I made my opinion and I am not here to discuss your sanity. Peace!

          4. “Well this about statement is an indirect reference to other drivers not having balls. That’s how I interpret.”

            Exactly, he didn’t say it you just made it up. Nice work!

    2. Vettel and Alonso also said the ban on radio comms was stupid. But hey, why not just single out Lewis and ignore everyone else.

      1. It does seem a little ironic. As far as I can tell, Alonso and Vettel were not criticising their peers… but maybe I missed something?

    3. yeah, people “digging their own grave” with their comments always makes for fun discussions.

    4. ResultantAsteroid
      20th June 2016, 8:56

      +1

  3. James Coulee
    20th June 2016, 1:38

    He doesn’t need to walk the track, he doesn’t need to use the simulator, he doesn’t need to read the user’s manual…. Except when he did. ;)

    1. Totally agree. Karma is a bitch.

    2. Whats this ‘users manual’ nonsense that some keep posting about? Are you people serious or what? i can’t decide. I don’t know wether to laugh at someone being sarcastic, or just face palm.

      Track walks are pointless, they are more about tradition than anything. Would Lewis doing a track walk made any difference to how much steering angle he gave in qualifying? At the point he made the mistake he’d already done 3 full practice sessions where he was top of the time sheets, would using the simulator have made a difference to the engine issue he had? Of course not, not in the slightest, since they don’t test these ‘scenarios’ in the sim, Mercedes said he couldn’t have figured the problem out since it was there from the start of the race.

      1. digitalrurouni
        20th June 2016, 14:04

        Really? Track walks are pointless? It’s absolutely a great tool to have in your kit when discovering a new venue. Have you done track days? If so then you would not have said that.

        I did BMW factory test rider Nate Kern’s track day event at AMP in Atlanta (designed by Tilke) and the track walk was the best thing because you get a feel of what is out there. Never having driven that track it’s essential to remember how one turn flows in to the other where the bumps are how close you can cut it to the curb or if you can even go on the curb etc etc.

        Of course Hamilton is a 3 time WDC!! He knows what he is doing and is a great as far as I am concerned but to slag off other drivers and then eat concrete – he would not do himself any harm by learning a bit of humility. By the way I am a huge Hamilton fan. But because I am passionate about him I also unfortunately have a lot of face palm moments whenever he opens his mouth.

        1. “Really? Track walks are pointless? It’s absolutely a great tool to have in your kit when discovering a new venue. Have you done track days? If so then you would not have said that.”

          In terms of learning a layout, track walks are pointless, maybe for spotting grids and checking out kerbs, fair enough, but people are having a bash at Lewis because he said he doesn’t like sims, then clips a wall, and people shout ‘karma’ this ‘karma’ that, as if his lack of track walking had anything at all to do with the incident. People know Monaco like the back of their hands but that doesn’t stop people clipping a wall. How many drivers clipped the wall of champions in Canada, some got away with it, some didn’t. Track walks don’t change that.

          I ride motocross, only as a hobby, but before going to a new track, i will study the layout from videos online, i will get there and do a few slow laps around and get used to what i am seeing on the day. At the point that Lewis hit the wall, he’d already done practically a race distance combined from practice (and topping every session no less)

        2. This cracked me up. Your track walks are why your doing track days and not competing!

          The only reason you need a track walk is in the much lower categories where the track may have lain idle for a few months and have vegetation sprouting or someone pinched the transponder ducting!
          The Officials deal with that for you!

          Anyone racing things of any kind will tell you viewing any track from anything other than at the speed and exact perspective of a cockpit or seat has very limited value. On a brand new track? Waste of time – go drive it.

          I am amazed how many sim and track day specialists are on my two favourite forums telling a 3 time champion how he should prepare for his races given he has won more than anyone else on the grid. I truly am. Why don’t you chaps and girls actually go out join a club and see how much goes into managing even a minor competitive event and if your really really brave, actually take part and compete in something. Anything actually. Even endurance karting for example.

          You will quickly see just how little your ‘sim’ or track day’ stuff really counts in terms of fitness, mentality, operating under pressure and fighting with others – you will come back understanding just how difficult it must be to thread a car at 200mph through streets while fiddling with a PlayStation control and trying to win at the very least the first time you glance at your rev or lap timer at the end of a straight and head directly to your accident.

          Or watch a TT…

  4. Engine modes should be banned, make it one mode for the whole weekend.

    1. ColdFly F1 (@)
      20th June 2016, 6:29

      Reading Toto’s answers I felt like having heard this before!
      The engine mode setting sound very similar to the software Volkswagen used on their Diesel road cars. I would not be surprised if those settings ‘sense’ where the car are on the track and optimise the specific engine settings for that part of the track.
      Interesting, but starts to smell more and more like traction control.

      1. Oh yes– the software that controls how the MGU-H spools up and down, or how the MGU-K manages the rear braking of the car, or how the car uses it’s energy store coming out of corners– That does sound very much like software designed to detune the engine’s performance if it detects an emissions test in progress.

        I’m quite certain every team out there has software that knows roughly where the car is on track, and optimizes the engine performance for that corner / straight.

        I wouldn’t call it traction control– but I’m fairly certain they can play games with the MGU-H and MGU-K to control how fast the torque comes on, and therefore limit rear wheel slip, and I doubt that’s limited to Mercedes.

    2. That will only result in drivers managing their car even more.

      1. @craig-o Indeed.

        Some years ago Champcar & later Indycar decided to ban all the adjustable engine maps & modes on the wheel & all it did was see drivers doing more things like lift & coast so after only 1-2 years they decided to bring the engine settings back.

        Toyota in particular spent months with Ganassi & Scott Dixon doing testing specifically dedicated to figuring out a way to maintain competitive lap times while saving as much fuel as possible & this is why Scott Dixon is so good at it & he’s picked up a lot of wins & a few championships based off been fast while saving fuel.

    3. Even the V8’s had multiple race modes, but the level of ignorance behind such a suggestion is just phenomenal.

      Ever had your current car go into “limp home” mode? That’s what you’re suggesting every single F1 car use– the lowest common denominator that will get the spark plugs to fire in the right order.

      I’m sure at that point you’d complain about how awful the cars perform, sound, and the fact that lap times have been doubled.

    4. petebaldwin (@)
      20th June 2016, 22:01

      I think they should have a set amount of engine modes and it should be displayed on the live timing. That way fans can really “see” the sport.

  5. The decision to let Hamilton replace his tyres sets a bad precedent. Now, if a driver puts on any sort of mark on the set they set the fastest lap time with in Q2, why wouldn’t they stamp on the brakes has hard as they can on the inlap, to lock them up as badly as possible, so that they can start the race with an undamaged set?

    Starting with a different set of tyres to what is required should be a pit lane start – if the driver makes a mistake they should have to pay for it. Or, at the very least, they should be excluded from Q3 and have to start 10th. Obviously in Hamilton’s case that wouldn’t have affected him, but at the time of damaging the tyres he wouldn’t have known that he would crash out in Q3.

    1. ColdFly F1 (@)
      20th June 2016, 6:31

      spot on @vmaxmuffin.
      I think a 5 place grid penalty would suffice though. They still made that specific quali lap, and 5 places would be enough of a deterrent to doing it on purpose.

    2. The tyre that was replaced was deemed dangerous by the FIA and a tyre with similar wear wold be be substituted you don’t get a new tyres.

    3. You don’t get a new set of tyres, you get a replacement tyre, 1, single. and it will be replaced for one with the same wear level as the one you are taking off. It’s uncommon they they allow it to happen but with at a track with a 2km long straight with speeds of 220mph+ having a badly flat spotted tyre on your car could be dangerous, hence why it is written into the rules that the teams can apply to the FIA for a replacement and it’s at the sole discretion of the FIA if they choose to allow a swap to be made, but once again a swap would be made with an tyre with the same wear life. It’s not a way of getting a new set of tyres to start the race on.

      1. Exactly, why don’t people know this? The rule has been there for ages, and other drivers have had to use a replacement tyre in the past but no ones talked about it, because it wasn’t Lewis, i presume.

    4. To be completely honest, I think the way around it would be to say that the team can choose to exclude a fast lap if they don’t want to use those tyres, or race control can exclude it if they believe that driving on those tyres would be dangerous.

      I don’t like the “start on Q2 tyres” rule, but if it’s there it’s there. In this case, if Merc did not want HAM to start on that set of tyres, they should have had to discard that lap. It would have been very harsh, but would fit with the “spirit of the rules”*.

      By the way, this is coming from a Hamilton fan.

      *Yes I know there is no such thing, but there is the intent of the rules, and this seems more in keeping with that.

    5. @vmaxmuffin “The decision to let Hamilton replace his tyres sets a bad precedent.”

      This has been a rule ever since the parc-ferme rules were introduced back in 2003. If a tyre is damaged you are allowed to replace it with a tyre used in practice that has a similar amount of laps put on it.

      You usually don’t hear about it but if you go back & look at post qualifying/pre-race FIA reports over the past 12-13 years you will find a number of other examples where this has happened.

      1. This occurs in every control tyre based championship. Even cadet karting. Your scrutineers marks an extra tyre for you to use in the case of a cut or puncture.

        Because it’s an opportunity for a little light LH bashing, F1 must suddenly run deemed unfit tyres just to keep things ‘fair’ I am astounded by the lack of knowledge displayed by ‘fans’ I really am.

        Would you expect a golf or football match to start with broken equipment?

  6. So now the radio ban is dangerous, eh? When it was all making jokes that Nico is stupid and Lewis is the best ever, the radio ban was awesome.

    From blaming the sun to asking Toto about how Lewis threw the pole away because Nico can’t handle him, this weekend was the most disgusting show by the British F1 media in a long while. And that’s saying something.

    Where’s the Lewis that was said everyone was whining? Now that it’s him whining it’s all valid?

    Disgusting.

    1. “So now the radio ban is dangerous, eh? When it was all making jokes that Nico is stupid and Lewis is the best ever, the radio ban was awesome.”

      Ermmm. Because Nico was being coached on how to drive his car, where to brake, what line to take through certain corners, what gear to be in. That’s what the public at large had a problem with. Lewis needed to fix a technical issue with an insanely complex engine.

      Entirely different thing.

      1. No, it’s not different. Lewis’ needed help driving his car, Nico knew how to do it. Lewis in this case needed coaching.

        1. Yes, it is different, and you’re hilarious.

    2. I thought the British media didn’t like Hamilton though? I think you’ll just find that Hamilton polarises opinion, and hence you get strong viewpoints on his behaviour/driving. At least it provides some entertainment.

    3. No, actually, I said that the communications ban was dangerous, specifically because of this kind of situation. Let the drivers drive, that’s fine– but let the engineers be engineers, and tell the driver what’s wrong with the car and how to fix it.

  7. I actually read that Reuters article and he was never quoted saying dangerous. Funny how the media lies to get peoples attention.

    1. so if you really want to know what this ‘story’ is all about, it’s a deflection strategy. Don’t look at how Lewis race was sabotaged by an incorrect setting given to him, just pay attention to something he didn’t say, and try to use that so Merc find someone else but their leadership to blame for their paltry lies and obvious reliability issues on one side of the garage.

      To Lewis, please get some lawyers, please consider them looking at your contract, and please consider undertaking an investigation for fraud. Please.

      1. @xsaviour The article does put the word dangerous in quotation marks, so I would suggests he did sum the radio ban up in that one word, when asked to do so.

        As to the rest of your rant…way overboard.

          1. I actually read the article a few times, it’s not even fair to characterize his statements as such. As for the rest, it’s not looking like Lewis is gonna get a fair shake this year, Nico’s wins have been uncontested, and Lewis pretty much lucked in to his 2 wins. It’s pretty much a walk over and Merc are just throwing out the both cars rhetoric to satisfy legal obligations, cause I can’t see why they would keep saying that stuff (when it’s not true) in that particular way unless they were covering themselves legally.

          2. @xsavior Could you please go on one of the tinfoil hat sites (and don’t hesitate on taking your ridiculous comments with you) available and leave proper fans alone.

          3. @xtwl Well said.

    2. “Dangerous,” replied Hamilton when asked how he felt in the car. “I was just looking at my steering wheel for a long portion of the lap. All the way down the straight l was just looking at my wheel.”

      — apparently we looked at two different articles, except the one I looked at gave the full context.

      1. To be fair by your post he said dangerous in regards to how he felt driving the car (which is entirely understandable), not the radio restrictions.

  8. I’m with the COTD, Hamilton should have been made to start from the pitlane if he couldn’t use his qualifying tyres because he damaged them. If you hammer the tyres and take life from them you’re disadvantaged, he didn’t protect them during qualifying, that was his failure and it should have punished him more.

    1. Disagree. Quali and the tyre rules are not there to ruin races by punishing people for locking up on a hot lap. The driver is punished enough by losing time on that lap.

      By your logic Hamilton also should start the race with three wheels and broken suspension as that’s how he ended quali.

      1. Indeed. Don’t we want drivers pushing in qualifying?

        I believe a 2 place grid penalty would be the best compromise.

      2. @tdm

        I didn’t suggest he should start the race on damaged tyres, mechanical damage should obviously be repaired, same for damaged tyres being changed out. But I think there should be a consequence for a driver who doesn’t preserve the tyre he’s supposed to start the race on.

        I wonder how the rule makers would react to a driver taking as much life as possible from their tyres setting a time, then destroying all four tyres before getting back to the pit?

    2. You know it’s been part of the regs for 10+ years, and it was replaced because the tire was considered a hazard?

      You know this happens on a regular basis at most F1 races, but no one cares, because it’s not Hamilton?

      The truly bizarre thing, however, is that when I went to the FIA site to look up the reports, I couldn’t find any mention of the swap, but I did find this:

      “On the grid it was checked that the top ten cars had fitted the tyres which they had used when doing
      their fastest lap in Q2.”

      So according to the FIA, Hamilton used his slightly smoked tires from Q2.

  9. I’m really surprised by the many reactions and comments regarding Lewis’ Problem. When radio communications were unrestricted, every viewer was moaning about how much whining by the drivers and advising from the pit was going on. Viewers and purists were unhappy with the radio-talk.
    Now that we have this Situation where a driver has to fix his problems on his own, many people are unhappy again.

    On german television former F1-driver Christian Danner told about his experience in the Brackley-simulator from Mercedes. It seems that there are scenarios to train and emulate this kind of problems with the steering wheel or what has to be done if the radio-button fails completely. And he mentioned that the first thing he learned was the procedure to set everything back to default. So everything is given and drivers can train this stuff endlessly, in the most professional way!

    So in this case the only person Lewis has to blame, is himself. Because you could clearly See that Nico did his homework!

    Oh …and it felt like a comedy, hearing how Lewis and Kimi were trying to ask questions in a tricky and childish way, to avoid the rules. These guys earn a stupendous amount of money and react the same way as my 9-year old nephew :D

    1. To be fair, apparently Nico switched into this problem engine mode, felt immediately that something was wrong and switched back. From what I understand, Hamilton started in it (happy to be corrected) so had no idea what setting was specifically the problem and unless told would have to try and work through them.

      I think the whole radio ban is utter nonsense and I have felt that way from the start. This is supposed to be the pinnacle of motorsport and car tech and then they get told they can’t give the drivers the information they in the pits? Crazy. Also, as fans, we have lost so much information and involvement in the races. Even a procession of a race is better when we know more from team radio comms.

      1. Can’t the driver just spend more time in the simulator and work out how to handle the car? For example, I have to use Microsoft software at work but still grit my teeth and master it, even if it is incredibly poor!

  10. Formula One should be re branded as Formula DRS. Yesterday’s race was just terrible.

    DRS is not required at tracks like Baku, it should be deactivated. I think the racing may have been slightly better had there been no DRS. Its was really annoying to watch drivers being passed not even putting up an effort to defend, as it would have been pointless.

    As for Lewis, well, I think everyone’s been a bit harsh on him. So he had an off weekend, happens to the best drivers every now and again……

  11. The radio ban was too excessive when it came in. All they needed to do was to stop the advice on driving. All this nonsense about not being able to know which engine mode to be in and stuff was taking it way too far, and I seem to remember saying that at the time.

    They’re drivers, not engineers.

    1. What about the other 21 drivers? Have they had a problem with what mode they should be in? As far as I’m aware most drivers have been fine coping with it. Either Mercedes need to make things easier to understand or educate their drivers accordingly. There are not enough drivers/teams calling for a change in the regs to justify it imho.

      1. @john-h Unfortunately we do not hear much from team radio any more so it is hard to tell. However it would surprise me if no other driver has had any issues.

      2. @john-h Sky asked most of the drivers they interviewed post race about it & most seemed to indicate they had had problems with it & did feel the radio restrictions had gone too far.

  12. Since the introduction there we haven’t heard of one proper problem with the radio ban. Now all of a sudden Lewis is unhappy and rules should be changed according to many for no reason at all. If any rule should be changed it’s one should never get a spare tyre after locking up in Q2…

    1. @xtwl The argument was always ‘the drivers need to get on and drive the car’. Surely if they’re pootling around the course, struggling to make it go, there should be dispensation for the pitwall to say ‘turn this switch to position 3’ in order to get that driver back into the race and then let them get on with it?

      The radio ban was brought in because everyone felt the coaching was getting too much, not because of crucial technical information being passed. The FIA over-reacted, as per usual.

      The tyre replacement was also done at the FIA’s discretion, not Mercedes. It probably happens more regularly, we just don’t hear about it or it is refused.

  13. It seems F1 is doing a lot of things quite counter intuitively. When driving a car we’re told to not drink and not use a phone. These 2 things impair your concentration yet in F1 beer brand is a sport’s sponsor and drivers are forced to use complicated computers at 200mph.

  14. Evil Homer (@)
    20th June 2016, 12:21

    I want Rosberg to the title this year (as Daniel cant this year) so happy to see when he gets points back on Hamilton but yesterday was ridiculous and I felt sorry for Hamilton. The rule was meant to stop the drivers being told “brake 10 meters later in T3” or “if you take T4 in 4th gear you will be faster” – basically making them drive the cars on feel not the engineers through data- that’s a good move. To stop him resetting an engine mode is not right, you cant force them to become a software engineer as well can you? (Imagine what F1 drivers will be in 20 years! Bill Gates would have beat Schumi)

    The ‘dangerous’ comment is correct as he was saying he was spending too much time looking at his steering wheel rather than looking at the track. I hope the FIA ease up on this one just a tad.

  15. This radio ban issue has been blown way out of proportion by the British media and Lewis. It was interesting to read the F1 official sites interview with Toto Wolff who said the following:

    “Well, the settings were wrong because we had a messy Friday where we couldn’t configure it in the way we should have done, so everything was pre-set in the wrong way and it started to show a little bit earlier on Lewis’ car than on Nico’s car. Three laps earlier.”

    There wasn’t a fault with the power unit that Lewis had to correct, Mercedes messed up their engine mode settings which is no different to messing up the suspension/brake/any other set-up which hampers the race performance. The only difference here is that one driver was able to correct the setting mid-race whilst the other wasn’t. It isn’t like he was dangerously slow or ‘Pootling’ round as someone mentioned above, he was still lapping at a reasonable pace, but obviously not his ‘ultimate’ pace. It’s what happens when you get the set-up of a car wrong.

    1. Good point.
      That’s what I thought as well.

  16. I’ve been saying the radio restrictions had gone too far since the start of the year & I still believe that.

    I feel it was right to clamp down on the sort of coaching we had a few years ago with drivers been told about braking points & all of that & I actually feel the balance we had last year was probably about right. Drivers couldn’t be instructed on any of that but could be told about engine settings & other things & I don’t recall any complaints about what we had last year.

    The additional clampdown thats banned practically everything this year is way over the top & should be reverted back to the way it was in 2015 as that was fine.

  17. If the cars have become this complicated to manage then the drivers need to be given instructions on how to fix problems like their engine setting. I think the over-complication is the real issue though.
    I know they are all great drivers but we don’t really want them to be wasting time on setting the right engine mode or monitoring fuel consumption. They should be able to concentrate on driving the car safely and quickly.

  18. Raikkonen made a big mistake, take it, even if it’s pretty impossible to know where the line is whilst closing in on a car.

  19. My two cents…

    All the while over recent years that we have considered the amount of radio ‘coaching’ and how that waters down the product and makes things too easy for them, the radio communications have been hand selected. We’ve only heard what F1 wants us to hear, to make for controversy and storyline. I’m convinced that’s how there is this false perception that NR needs to see LH’s data but LH doesn’t need to see NR’s.

    Being realistic, coaching can just as easily take place, and has for years, when a driver comes in from a session and asks where his teammate is faster and why. Not during a race of course, but during everything in the two days leading up to the race.

    Drivers are supposed to advance themselves and therefore their team in order to keep the competition behind them.

    I think part of the problem is firstly the hand selection of radio communications that have probably skewed peoples’ opinions on this, and secondly the perception that the cars are too easy to drive, slower than ten years ago, much about conserving, on very forgiving tracks, and so on top of that for them to be perceived to have their hands held all the while with assistance from the pits, means a line had to be drawn.

    LH chose to hunt for a solution at 200 mph and didn’t have to endanger himself, so I think he is being overly dramatic, but at the same time I think an opening up of the radio communications again might be in order if indeed starting next year the cars are harder to drive and we have more of a perception that the drivers are performing great feats again. That way if they get a little ‘help’ from the radio we still will know they are being taxed otherwise. Right now this is F1-lite, and hence the backing off of radio that has further caused many to think F1 is just too easy.

    I’m pretty confident that had LH actually been in danger, then from a safety standpoint when Merc asked F1 what their communication parameters were, F1 would have allowed them to communicate an adjustment to LH, or they would have told Merc to have him pit. LH’s other option was to stop messing with the wheel and lose .2 seconds a lap, so no wonder F1 did not intervene and allow an exception.

    LH’s ‘danger’ was self imposed and he has tried to sell it that the race was harmed because he could have been more in the mix for the sake of the show if he had had an adjustment communicated to him right away. Of course, open up the communications for everyone in fairness then LH, and perhaps you still wouldn’t have gotten near the guy ahead who also got radio help.

    To summarize, I distrust the manipulation of the radio comms we the public are/were allowed to hear, and the cars need to be way harder to drive so we once again feel they are taming beasts and performing great feats such that some sensible radio communications are understandable. Ideally communications that aren’t hand selected by F1, but I’ll not hold my breath for anything sensible in F1.

  20. Can Lewis please stop moaning? All he needs to do is spend time in the simulator, let the operator throw all kinds of weird settings-issues at him while he’s driving and learn how to solve them. And then do it again to memorize them. That’s adapting to new regulations.

    Seems to me Lewis is relying a bit too much on his raw talent this year. New kids have turned up that have the same (if not more) raw talent as he does, and they don’t mind spending time in the simulator to get to know the car inside and out. Lewis needs to shape up.

    1. Agree Hans..it was suggested this was a lack of homework by Lewis not that we would ever know..but less Moaning

    2. Based on your post, I can only conclude that you really have no idea of how complicated the engine settings are, or what actually happened to Hamilton.

      I posted it earlier, but apparently someone took exception to it, and deleted the summary.

      Short version: All the preparation in the world won’t help if the team screws up the programming on your car, and isn’t allowed to tell you how to fix it. Nico was in a non-buggy mode, and switched into the bugged mode (and thus knew to switch back). Hamilton was set into the buggy mode by his engineer from the start, and didn’t know the team had screwed up his settings for him.

      Tell me– do you really think the driver should be adjusting around 240 different engine settings during a race? Can you memorize even *24* settings and how they affect the ICU, the ERS, the MGU-K and the MGU-H? Then, while you’re driving a car at 200+ MPH, can you decipher the information on a 4×6 LCD screen in such a way as to determine where the problem is with the regen/discharge settings? Then, could you reprogram the engine mode to fix it, still while driving at 200 mph?

      This only exists in F1 because the engineers aren’t allowed to give information that they have on their screens to the drivers. It’s to make racing “better”, but it didn’t really do that this weekend, did it?

      In 2009, Hamilton was leading the Singapore grand prix when his KERS began misbehaving. After losing significant pace for several laps, following directions from his engineers, he dialed in a sequence of numbered commands that reset his KERS, and he went on to win the race.

      The number of armchair F1 drivers / engineers is truly staggering.

      1. Grat. Great post. Electronic troubleshooting isn’t easy. Couple that with all concentration needed to stay on track? Disaster waiting to happen.

      2. At last a sensible comment!

  21. These comments make my rib tickle.

    The only thing he meant by the radio ban being dangerous is that during the problem he had during the race, he has his eyes on the steering rather than on the road to correct the settings.

  22. I don’t agree with Hamilton.

  23. Is this the very same wheel that LH proclaimed as “his design”?
    Boy, if you don’t understand your own design work, there’s an issue…unless of course, all he did was decide on its colour…
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/formulaone/article-3500189/Lewis-Hamilton-s-steering-wheel-explained-Sportsmail-takes-look-F1-World-Champion-s-important-tool.html

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