Radio communication between race car drivers and pit road has been a staple in motorsports for several decades.
But now there’s a call by one driver to have “radio silence” during races.
According to e-racing365.com, 2016-17 Formula E champion Lucas di Grassi wants a ban on race communications between drivers and teams, except when there is a safety issue at hand.
Formula E and FIA are in the process of discussing the use of so-called “mission control” radio conversations that include racetrack and manufacturer input on teams’ radio channels.
Di Grassi says the less chatter the better, plus it would help enhance the challenge for drivers if they’re more on their own, rather than having to deal with radio talk that can at times break a driver’s concentration.
“Why not just cut the radio communication to the driver and then it doesn’t matter how many strategists you have or how big a mission control you have, as you cannot tell the driver what to do then,” Di Grassi told e-racing365.
“I think that’s the way forward, its more driver dependent, you have to decide your own strategy you need to know what is going on and you need to figure it out for yourself.
“There would also be no team orders, no (b.s.) like this, you will go racing and that’s it, it is your problem to solve and I am totally in favor of this.”
Di Grassi isn’t just sharing his thoughts with the media. He recently spoke with Formula E founder and CEO Alejandro Agag about the subject, as well, according to e-racing365.
As far as Di Grassi is concerned, there is really only one reason to still maintain radio communications in a race car.
“We need to have a radio because it is important for safety reasons, of course,” he told e-racing365. “We need to know about full course yellows, accidents, etc. But I’d like to have only comms from the race director to us and us to the radio director so I can tell them if I had a crash or something has gone wrong on track.
“I am against team radio, I am against any type of driver aid. I see the continual dialogue in a race as a driver aid and Formula E should look at eradicating it.”