should the radio ban stay?

should the radio ban stay?

Poll: should the radio ban stay?

Total Members Polled: 251

No it is a spaceship : 58%
YES it is a racecar: 42%
Author
Discussion

thegreenhell

15,115 posts

218 months

Monday 25th July 2016
quotequote all
I would rather see completely free radio communications but a ban on car to pit live data acquisition. Then it will be completely up to the driver to recognise that a problem exists, and either ask appropriate questions of the team or drive into the pits to do a data dump.

I have no problem with team assistance for the driver; it is a team sport afterall. The driver is just the team member who happens to be sitting in the car.

kambites

67,462 posts

220 months

Monday 25th July 2016
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I suspect people would kick up a fuss about the safety aspects of banning electronic car to pit communication.

Black_S3

2,667 posts

187 months

Tuesday 26th July 2016
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They should scrap it. History has already proven that they will just start passing information in code.

Not saying this is what happened with Lewis in Baku, but:

Lewis'' Should I put it in x setting''
Team '' We are not allowed to tell you'' meaning No.
Lewis ''I'm just going to go to reset everything and go through all the settings''
Team '' I cant recommend anything'' meaning Yes, do it.
  • Lewis goes through the settings one by one until team come on the radio with:
Team '' Lewis just get on with the job in hand'' meaning - crack on, you've fixed it.

Pointless rule.

Black_S3

2,667 posts

187 months

Tuesday 26th July 2016
quotequote all
thegreenhell said:
I would rather see completely free radio communications but a ban on car to pit live data acquisition. Then it will be completely up to the driver to recognise that a problem exists, and either ask appropriate questions of the team or drive into the pits to do a data dump.

I have no problem with team assistance for the driver; it is a team sport afterall. The driver is just the team member who happens to be sitting in the car.
I like the idea, but don't see how it would work in F1 given the money involved. I think the top teams would just spend a fortune on extra technology (trackside cameras, microphones, infra-red cameras/thermometers etc) that would give them enough accurate data to feed through simulation software and get near enough the same as a car to pit feed.

eps

6,272 posts

268 months

Tuesday 26th July 2016
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It would be much better if they gave the teams jet propelled carrier pigeons who could then fly messages to and from the cars during the race. Problem solved, oh and give the pigeons small flags so they can semaphore as well, whilst flying.


Halmyre

11,148 posts

138 months

Tuesday 26th July 2016
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eps said:
It would be much better if they gave the teams jet propelled carrier pigeons who could then fly messages to and from the cars during the race. Problem solved, oh and give the pigeons small flags so they can semaphore as well, whilst flying.
But then you'd have to re-write the rule book to accommodate all the different types of "pigeon" (310 species, according to Wikipedia). And then specify the type, size, weight, power and fuel type of a jet engine (not to mention defining what constitutes a 'jet engine'). Then there's the acceptable sizes of the semaphore flag, the colours (i.e. Pantone references) and the signalling alphabet...

Sid123

255 posts

176 months

Tuesday 26th July 2016
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Either have radio and let them say what they want, or preferably have no radio at all and use pit boards.
Problem is we'd miss Raikkonen telling his team to fk off when they state the bleeding obvious like cold tyres.........

VolvoT5

4,155 posts

173 months

Tuesday 26th July 2016
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Oh come on, lets just get rid of the radio ban and while they are at it stop fking around with track limit penalties as well..... if all the drivers are riding the kerbs and pushing the limits then no one is gaining an unfair advantage.... ditto with the radio rules, if they are all getting pit wall help it is fine. There is no need for rules which reduce viewer engagement, make the racing worse and potentially cause safety concerns.

The FIA really need a kick up the arse on these issues.

Tom_The_Light_House

41 posts

106 months

Tuesday 26th July 2016
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Imagine being given a brand new mobile phone, having never had one in your life before. You could figure out how to make a call because its a phone. But then think about how you would do everything else, like storing numbers, using the internet, playing Pokemon Go?!?

Its the same with the Formula One cars, there's too much tech and without an on board tech support telling you what to do, they don't stand a chance.

There either need to make the comms available or they need to dumb down the cars so the driver knows what to change with out having to call support and being told to turn it off and on again.

Then they need to freeze all developments, stop changing the damn rules to produce better racing.
Allow the lower teams a chance to play catch up, which will in turn produce a level playing field.
But that's a whole over kettle of fish.

MIP1983

210 posts

204 months

Tuesday 26th July 2016
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Maybe they should just build a little lcd screen with a troubleshooting wizard into the steering wheel? Like the Microsoft paper-clip.

RS250_Steve

149 posts

101 months

Tuesday 26th July 2016
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richiekuk

45 posts

206 months

Tuesday 26th July 2016
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Tom_The_Light_House said:
Imagine being given a brand new mobile phone, having never had one in your life before. You could figure out how to make a call because its a phone. But then think about how you would do everything else, like storing numbers, using the internet, playing Pokemon Go?!?

Its the same with the Formula One cars, there's too much tech and without an on board tech support telling you what to do, they don't stand a chance.
Really! The drivers have quite a long time to learn the cars systems. The cars are only ever an evolution of what's come before, it's not as if they are learning an entirely new beast every season.
We are half way through the 3rd season of these hybrid cars, they should be able to use the systems unaided by now.

Safety is one thing, but engine modes etc. they should know how to manage.

For example, an RAF Typhoon pilot has a quite a bit more to remember than an F1 driver and they don't radio back to base asking questions.

The formula has changed, whether we as spectators or they as drivers like it or not, they need to learn how to drive their new cars. They get enough simulator time (especially the big teams) to learn the systems.

RoadRunner220

940 posts

192 months

Tuesday 26th July 2016
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I think they're missing a trick with radio messages, they should allow the drivers to be able to talk to each other.

GrizzlyBear

1,072 posts

134 months

Tuesday 26th July 2016
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F1 is supposed to be entertainment (although I am watching F1 less as every season passes).

If they can message the driver to keep the car on the track, yes it should be allowed, as when you pay the silly money they ask for a ticket to watch a race, you want to see a race.

If they are messaging the driver to improve the lap time... No it shouldn't be allowed, they should use pit boards freely for messages like that.

anonymous-user

53 months

Tuesday 26th July 2016
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It would be better if F1 banned all the systems and only gave the driver two buttons on the steering wheel.

The radio and drinks button.

Get back to a driver making the difference in the car.

F1 now consists of two drivers having such a performance advantage the rest should not even bother turning up.

How anyone could actually go and pay a fortune to watch this business is beyond my reasoning.

hairyben

8,516 posts

182 months

Tuesday 26th July 2016
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ELUSIVEJIM said:
It would be better if F1 banned all the systems and only gave the driver two buttons on the steering wheel.

The radio and drinks button.

Get back to a driver making the difference in the car.

F1 now consists of two drivers having such a performance advantage the rest should not even bother turning up.

How anyone could actually go and pay a fortune to watch this business is beyond my reasoning.
To be fair the last time F1 steering wheels had 2 buttons the internet didn't exist and telephones were things that had 12 chunky buttons you could call people on. Now I can watch formula 1 on my phone via the internet. There are many, many motorsports where the machines are much more simple/organic in operation.

canucklehead

416 posts

145 months

Tuesday 26th July 2016
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Absolutely keep the radio ban. The drivers (those who are paid and not bringing sponsorship) are paid a fortune on the basis that they are supposedly the best race drivers in the world.

If the cars are too complicated for them to operate, make them simpler to operate. If this is impossible, hire more intelligent drivers who are better under pressure. I am thinking of fighter pilots here - qv Andy Green - if he can manage supersonic speeds in the desert and pilot a Tornado in the heat of combat, he's probably up to trundling around at 85% of Vmax on a Tilkedrome.

I would go further and remove all car-pit-car telemetry as well'. Limit all communications to pit boards and chats during pit stops. Having more variables and reduced predictability might liven up what is currently a tedious, overly predictable and above all dull form of racing.

Evangelion

7,642 posts

177 months

Tuesday 26th July 2016
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RoadRunner220 said:
I think they're missing a trick with radio messages, they should allow the drivers to be able to talk to each other.
Yes I've always thought this would be quite fun.

Black_S3

2,667 posts

187 months

Wednesday 27th July 2016
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MIP1983 said:
Maybe they should just build a little lcd screen with a troubleshooting wizard into the steering wheel? Like the Microsoft paper-clip.
biggrin

Evilex

512 posts

103 months

Wednesday 27th July 2016
quotequote all
No.
All nature of communications should be allowed.
They should all be broadcast-safe, and I'd take a dim view of any coded ones about team orders OR information about the other driver in your team unless there's an incident or they are simply retiring.