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F1 teams worried about 2015 radio ban after Nico Rosberg's problems

Nico Rosberg's problems in the Singapore Grand Prix showed how hard it is going to be to manage a Formula 1 team radio clampdown next year, says his Mercedes team

The German lost most of the controls of his steering wheel before the start of the race, leaving him without a clutch, proper gear changes, DRS and energy recovery systems.

Although Rosberg was able to start from the pit lane after assistance from his team, he was eventually forced into retirement at this first pit stop.

Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff believes that the issues that Rosberg experienced showed that there are times it is essential that a team can speak to its drivers to discuss technical issues.

As things stand, conversations relating to the performance of the car will be banned from the start of 2015 as part of a push by the FIA to make drivers work harder.

Speaking about how the Rosberg situation would have been without team radio, Wolff said: "A nightmare! Can you imagine not being able to give any messages to the driver?

"It is also a concern for safety. How do you not want to communicate with a driver whose steering wheel doesn't show anything anymore?

"Maybe the Singapore race, with all its ingredients, needs to flow in to any future direction on radio messages."

Red Bull boss Christian Horner, whose team had to give messages to Daniel Ricciardo about coping with a failing battery, suggested it would be wrong to not allow teams to assist when problems strike.

"I think these cars are so bloody complicated and there's an awful amount going on," said Horner.

"I completely support getting rid of driver coaching through the radio. It's not the engineers' job to tell them where they need to brake later, or whatever.

"But in terms of managing the actual power unit; they're so complicated that from a reliability and safety point of view, I think it's important.

"And I think for the show it's good [to speak to them]. At least we can tell them their brakes are getting hot and that they have to pull out of the slipstream, for example."

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