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Formula One's radio communications regulations are continuing to cause anger in the paddock in the wake of Nico Rosberg's penalty at the British Grand Prix.
Teams are now restricted in what they can say to drivers over the radio in order to clampdown on so-called 'driver coaching'.
But Williams' Chief Technical Officer Pat Symonds thinks that such communication is an integral part of F1.
"You're going to do tens of thousands of pounds worth of damage to the car because you can't tell a guy his brakes are about to fail? It's not just wrong, it's negligent."
Former Williams, McLaren, and Red Bull driver David Coulthard agreed, questioning the need for such restrictive rules.
"I have no view on whether it should have been a penalty because I have no interest in this and it has no place in sport," he wrote in the Telegraph.
"Bernie Ecclestone takes the view that any publicity is good publicity, but talking about something in frustration, is that really the scene setter we need?"
However, while the general consensus is that the radio restrictions are unnecessary, John Watson believes that teams should do away with the radio altogether.
"They should look at banning it all. Ban the whole bloody lot," the former F1 race winner told the Guradian."Take the radio away from them altogether."
Grand Prix of Belgium
G. Zhou
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Replies (2)
Login to replyianf1
Posts: 185
I tend to agree with John Watson; but where do you stop? Ban all telemetry too? I guess that would put us back in the era where the driver was totally on his own, maybe that would increase the spectacle at the same time?
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Take the bloody radio away? Only if they can make the cars simpler to driver. There are too many settings for them to control now.