(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Formula One has back-tracked on a planned clampdown on radio and pitboard messages for reasons of fairness but remains determined to end driver 'coaching' during races, the world governing body said yesterday.
Teams will be allowed to send messages relating to car performance in tomorrow's Singapore Grand Prix but from next season they will follow those concerning driver performance onto the banned list.
After a meeting at the Italian Grand Prix two weeks ago, the International Automobile Federation (FIA) opted to ban messages on both topics but decided after speaking with team managers in Singapore that more time was required.
"When one looks into it in more detail it became quite clear that some teams would be at a serious disadvantage compared to others," FIA race director Charlie Whiting told reporters at the Marina Bay Street Circuit after first practice.
"Not just in their new know-how or their ability to react in the short term, but also in hardware choices that were made a year ago.
"The two types of dashboards that are available to the teams, one will simply show a great deal more than the other," he added.
"So in the interest of fairness we felt with the benefit of hindsight it would be better to introduce it in two stages and that is what we have done."
Asked why the FIA had not simply waited for the final six races of the 2014 campaign to pass before implementing the new rules, the top FIA officialWhiting said the organisation couldn't stand by if rules were clearly being broken.
"If you see or hear something that you are uncomfortable with, with regards to conforming to the rules, you have to do something about it and that's our job."
Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone told reporters on Thursday he had been behind the original decision to ban messages and he wanted less talk on the radio during races.
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