Adding to the fallout from the dramatic Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, there have been mounting calls to ban radio communication between Formula 1 team principals and race control.
This season, F1 and the FIA agreed to broadcast selected conversations between the teams and FIA race director, Australia’s Michael Masi.
By moving away from the traditional setup of a team’s sporting director having the sole responsibility of communicating between the pit wall and race control, it was hoped that the broadcast of more exchanges would give fans extra insight into previously unknown areas of racing.
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However, as the season advanced, it became apparent that both Mercedes’ Toto Wolff and Red Bull’s Christian Horner were using the direct line in an attempt to influence decisions by race control.
This was particularly evident during the F1 season’s closing race as both team bosses were active throughout as the championship battle between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen reached breaking point.
Wolff explicitly asked that the safety car not be deployed after Antonio Giovinazzi stopped in an escape route on the outside of the track. An ultimately unlikely appeal that clashed with the frequent intervention made by the race director in similar situations to ensure safety.
“Michael, please no safety car, it interferes with the race,” he argued over the radio.
Meanwhile, in the final stages Horner called for the lapped cars between the two championship rivals to be allowed to unlap themselves.
“Why aren’t we getting these cars out of the way? We only need one racing lap,” he said.
After the race, F1 managing director Ross Brawn suggested that team bosses should no longer be allowed to take over from their respective sporting directors to use the race control channel.
“I agree with Ross,” Wolff told Motorsport.com when asked if he shared the same views as Brawn.
“But I equally blame Ross and myself because we have been part of the decision making to broadcast more of the channels for the purpose of transparency and entertainment for the fans.
“There is so much going on on the intercom that giving fans a little bit of an overview of all the little dramas that happen, like is the car breaking down, are we having some kind of strategy discussions, was meant well. But I think we overshot.
“I need to take myself by the nose, and Christian. We were given the opportunity to talk to the race director directly, and because we fight so fiercely for the interests of our teams all of us overstepped.
“It certainly was part of the failures this year that under pressure from the team principals also the race director’s life wasn’t made easier, certainly.”
Wolff also went one step further to suggest that regulations be put in place to limit what the sporting directors can convey during races.
“I think team principals shouldn’t speak directly to the race director, it should be the sporting directors. I will go one step further and say I don’t think [the] sporting directors should be lobbying race director or exercising pressure.
“They should be pointing to situations that the race director or his colleagues might not have spotted, but not lobby, not pressurise.”
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