FIA wants teams to reveal tyre choice
Formula One teams will be forced to go public with their tyre choice for races this year if a plan by the FIA is successful
magazine reports that FIA technical delegate Charlie Whiting is due to put forward a proposal that should allow the public and the media to gain an insight into team's strategy for races.
He wants teams to publish their initial tyre choice for a Grand Prix once the event is actually underway, which will clear up the type of rubber that different drivers are on.
Drivers have to run both type of available tyre compounds in the races this year in a move that could throw up varying strategies as teams opt for different periods of the race to run hard and soft rubber.
However, a plan to adopt a red-painted sidewall for the soft tyres to allow easy differentiation of which compound the drivers were using fell through because teams did not want their strategies to be made public.
The failure of the red-tyre rule left the possibility of the public being left in the dark about tyre strategy - wasting a great opportunity for the sport to bring itself closer to the public.
Whiting looks set to react to that situation by demanding that teams be forced to reveal their initial tyre choice once the event is underway - as happens in MotoGP when each rider's tyre choice is published after the start.
This brings a greater understanding of strategy for the public without letting rival teams know of tyre choices before the start of the event.
Red Bull Racing boss Christian Horner has backed the idea of teams being asked to submit their tyre options once the race is underway.
"The more you can interact with the man in the grandstand and the television viewer, the more interesting it is," he told autosport.com. "Anything like that, be it driver communications or pit crew talk, I think is good for the sport.
"It will add to the spectacle and if it gives the spectator a third dimension then why not?"
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