Skip to main content

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Recommended for you

Vote: Autosport Best of the Month for June 2026

General
Vote: Autosport Best of the Month for June 2026

Why similar Williams and Aston Martin failures are oddly reassuring

Feature
Formula 1
Austrian GP
Why similar Williams and Aston Martin failures are oddly reassuring

McLaren still to investigate why it's losing to Mercedes on the straights, despite same PU

Formula 1
Austrian GP
McLaren still to investigate why it's losing to Mercedes on the straights, despite same PU

Explained: The factors behind WRC’s big 2027 transition and the hurdles it still faces

Feature
WRC
Rally Greece
Explained: The factors behind WRC’s big 2027 transition and the hurdles it still faces

Marquez admits he "didn't want to walk into the paddock" because he "associated it with pain"

MotoGP
Dutch GP
Marquez admits he "didn't want to walk into the paddock" because he "associated it with pain"

Top five roles on Motorsport Jobs this week

General
Top five roles on Motorsport Jobs this week

Autosport Retro video: Remembering the 1987 British GP

Formula 1
British GP
Autosport Retro video: Remembering the 1987 British GP

Williams plans “almost entirely new car” by Azerbaijan GP

Formula 1
Austrian GP
Williams plans “almost entirely new car” by Azerbaijan GP

F1 radio ban: FIA tightens rules on messages before Hungarian GP

The FIA has tightened up its restrictions on Formula 1 radio communication ahead of this weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix

The move follows Nico Rosberg's incident during the British Grand Prix when the Mercedes driver informed his team of a gearbox problem, and was then instructed on how to correct it.

After finishing second to team-mate Lewis Hamilton, Rosberg received a 10-second time penalty that demoted him to third behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen.

Mercedes opted against appealing the penalty.

In a technical directive issued to F1 teams on Wednesday, the FIA has now significantly altered item number two on the list of permitted messages.

It previously read: "Indication of a critical problem with the car. Any message of this sort may only be used if failure of a component or system is imminent and potentially terminal."

It now reads: "Indication of a problem with the car. Any message of this sort must include an irreversible instruction to enter the pits to rectify the problem or to retire the car."

If the ruling had been in place at Silverstone, Rosberg would have been required to return to the pits where the team would have been allowed to inform him how to correct the gearbox issue he was experiencing.

Item number three of permitted messages, relating to "information concerning damage to the car" has also been tweaked, and now states: "Information concerning damage to the bodywork of the car."

There is also an addendum to message four, which now reads: "Instructions to select driver defaults. This must be for the sole purpose of mitigating loss of function of a sensor, actuator or controller whose degradation or failure was not detected and handled by the on-board software."

The messages now refer to all times the car is out of the pitlane, rather than garage as was previously the case, with the wording "with the exception of any time the car is in the pitlane on the day of the race prior to or between reconnaissance laps".

Now it is with the exception of "the slowing down lap once the driver has crossed the line at the end of the race".

Previous article How the F1 pendulum swung from Nico Rosberg to Lewis Hamilton
Next article Formula 1 2017 tyre rules: The key questions and Pirelli's plans

Top Comments