FIA to ban radio instructions to drivers

F1's governing body has reportedly banned certain radio communications between engineers and drivers with immediate effect.

Germany's Auto Motor und Sport reports that the increasing trend for radio instructions about how the drivers should actually drive the cars have proved a major turn-off for the fans.

One example crackled over the TV-transmitted radio on Friday at Monza, when championship leader Nico Rosberg told his Mercedes engineer Tony Ross: "Give me driving instructions."

And Ferrari's Andrea Stella told Fernando Alonso, regarded as perhaps the very best F1 driver, to "take another line in turn 10" of the fabled Italian circuit last weekend.

According to Auto Motor und Sport on Tuesday, the FIA is now banning these types of radio messages to drivers, effective as of next weekend's Singapore round.

It is also believed the FIA wants to clamp down on instructions to drivers including which dials and buttons they should press on the steering wheel.

The report said the Paris federation is enforcing the 'ban' simply by invoking a clarification of the existing Article 20.1 of the sporting regulations, which states: "The driver must drive the car alone and unaided."

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Leopold

Leopold Pleijsier founded F1-Fansite.com in 2001 and has followed Formula 1 since the early 1980s. He writes about daily F1 news, race weekends, drivers and the sport’s history.

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