Mere hours away from Free Practice 1, pit-lane reporters are saying that the FiA is poised to back down from the controversial team radio ban.
Steffen Schmidt, a reporter from German broadcaster RTL, first tweeted that the radio ban was on the brink due to safety reasons, and Sky F1 reporter Ted Kravitz all but confirmed the ban will be severely modified. An announcement is scheduled for 10.00 am Singapore time.
In Last Word on Sport’s look at the team radio ban issue, we speculated that there may be some scope for negotiation of the ban during the normal Thursday team managers’ meeting. The timing of the current rumblings from pit-lane, coming on the Thursday evening before a race-weekend, would suggest that is the case.
The reaction to the ban within the paddock has been mixed, but the move has not been met with strong outward resistance within the paddock. Among fans however the reaction has been much stronger, with the FiA copping a social-media backlash. Many fans feel that the the level of bureaucratic meddling is unnecessary, and shifting the goalposts by tinkering with the regulations mid-season is precisely the sort of interference they want removed. Backflipping hours before Free Practice is only likely to further fuel the social-media storm.
If the team radio ban was truly intended to please the fans by elevating the role of the driver, it has back-fired spectacularly.
Force India driver Sergio Perez summed up the general mood, criticising the mid-season timing of the change, but accepting the FiA’s decision.
“I don’t think it’s ideal that they, suddenly from one race to another, they change it dramatically that you cannot get certain calls, “ said Perez. “But it doesn’t influence it much. I don’t see it as a big deal, it’s something that we as drivers need to get more used to.”
If true it will prove to be an embarrassing back-down for the FiA and Formula One Management. Just days ago Bernie Ecclestone was claiming to be the catalyst for the change and hinting more was yet to come, as such the dilution of the ban so close to FP1 suggests a much stronger undercurrent of resistance.
It is unlikely the FiA would shrink back from their initial strong stance if they did not have some significant resistance to contend with.
Whatever the case, it is the latest in a series of management bungles that continues to distract from one of the best Formula One seasons in living memory, and one that the image of F1 can ill-afford.
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