F1 | Since Melbourne, "More silent races"

 Starting from the Australian GP at Melbourne’s city circuit that will launch the new Formula 1 season next March 18-20, pit-to-driver communications will be strongly restricted.

The International Automobile Federation decided this, with the aim to make the races less predictable, increasing the awareness of drivers. Communications regarding safety will be still  allowed, whereas any contacts about fuel consumption, tires, and engine will be forbidden. “We are in a peculiar moment. One has the feeling that they don’t know what they want and that the will to unanimously face problems lacks. Hence they propose some palliatives to be tested on track”, manager Gian Carlo Minardi says at Minardi.it.

In Melbourne, the new hotseat qualifying format should debut with eliminations during the three sessions every ninety seconds.“Ferrari pointed out that they modified the qualifying format with an inappropriate bureaucratic procedure. Therefore, FIA gets busy to obtain the consent of the Working Group and of the F1 Commission, and the approval of the World Council”.

The World Championship starts in ten days and it has some unknowns. “On one hand, we have a Mercedes to beat with a Ferrari behind, to some teams the situation is not so easy. Sauber has not yet closed its sponsorship agreements and is run out of oxigen. Force India proved it can be again the fourth or fifth world power, unluckily they too have some liquidity problems”, the manager from Faenza concludes.