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FIA issues a further clarification on radio clampdown after teams express concerns

Teams raised concerns about ban in its previous form; Extensive revision published ahead of Friday morning practice in Singapore

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Williams chief technical officer Pat Symonds is happy with the FIA's revised directives towards radio communications.

The FIA has issued a further clarification on its radio clampdown ahead of the Singapore GP after teams and drivers raised concerns about the ban as it previously stood.

Announcing its decision last week to stop the flow of radio messages concerning car and driver performance, the governing body then sent teams a second directive comprehensively listing what can and cannot be said starting this weekend.

However, the F1 teams raised their concerns about the scope of the ban at a meeting on Thursday and, in a further update issued by the governing body ahead of first practice for the Singapore GP, the FIA have confirmed the restrictions have been eased. While a ban will still be imposed against driver coaching, radio messages will be permitted relating to car performance.

The updated list of messages not permitted, by radio or pit board, now includes:

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- Driving lines on the circuit.
- Contact with kerbs.
- Car set up parameters for specific corners.
- Comparative or absolute sector time detail of another driver.
- Speeds in corners compared to another driver.
- Gear selection compared with another driver.
- Gear selection in general.
- Braking points.
- Rate of braking compared to another driver.
- Rate of braking or application of brakes in general.
- Car stability under braking.
- Throttle application compared to another driver.
- Throttle application in general.
- Use of DRS compared with another driver.
- Use of any overtake button.
- Driving technique in general.

"In a nutshell, they’ve halved the ban," Williams' technical chief Pat Symonds told Sky Sports News HQ. “The power units are quite complex and the position today is that we’ve taken away the ban on managing the power units. We can still manage the power units and advise the drivers on what to do. But what we can’t do is help him on his driving style.

"It’s a halfway house. It’s pragmatic but whether it’s sensible is open to debate."

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Sky F1's Martin Brundle added: "Practical and pragmatic revisions to driver/team radio and pit board regulation changes. More focussed on leaving the drivers to find speed."

The update was issued after some drivers suggested on Thursday that certain types of message relating to the management of F1’s hybrid power units should still be relayed.

The concern was that without these messages, components such as the car’s ERS battery and rear brakes – which are now controlled by brake-by-wire systems and frequently adjusted as the battery charges – might be damaged or overheat, causing retirement or even an accident.

Although items like ‘balancing the SOC (a battery’s state of charge) or adjusting for performance’ and ‘information on brake balance or BBW (brake-by-wire) settings’ were listed as banned, both Sebastian Vettel and Felipe Massa said that drivers should be kept informed in case problems arise.

Relaying information on fuel consumption is another area that has escaped the ban for now, although Vettel said that this wasn't a particular area of concern.

“The main difficulty is not necessarily stuff like the fuel because it’s simple to put up a certain target to follow [on the car's dash]. But in terms of managing the components, and the way they work with each other, it will be very difficult for us," he said.

The World Champion added that the new, more complex, hybrid cars are “not as simple as managing KERS in the past. If that was the case then the radio ban’s not a problem.

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As Craig Slater tries to keep the peace and quiet, Ted Kravitz and David Croft loudly debate what can and can’t be said after the radio clampdow.

“But it could be a problem if you want to manage the state of charge throughout the whole race. That’s the reason we have so many people in the garage.”

Massa went even further, saying: “In some areas it’s fine. The team tells you not to use the tyres so much in corner five because you’re using them too much compared to your team-mate. This is okay, this is not a problem.

“But you have so many things in the car that we’re doing – because if you don’t do [them] maybe you put too much temperature in the rear brakes because the battery gets too high and you just put fire in the car. Maybe you can have a big accident.

“We don’t know what the temperature is for the battery, we cannot see. We don’t know that.

“There’s a very complicated power unit in the car which is not related to the driver. If you’re not using the right settings, forget it. You’ll not do two laps.”

The 2014 Singapore GP is live only on Sky Sports F1 this weekend, with our coverage beginning with Practice from 10.45am on Friday.

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