Traction control debate set to be reopened

References to traction control were included in the paper outlining the 2011 proposals that was submitted to the manufacturers by the FIA at the Spanish Grand Prix.

The banning of traction control and other electronic aids for 2008 and 2009 was greeted with enthusiasm from purists, who wanted to see a greater emphasis upon driver input.

However, FIA President Max Mosley said that the reintroduction of driver aids could be an inadvertent by-product of the focus on energy recovery technology that forms the basis of the 2011 proposals.

"It's going to be difficult to have very sophisticated electronics that go with an energy recovery system without risking traction control," Mosley said.

"It's a very interesting discussion, whether and how much it matters. The classic position always is how traction control is bad, it's a disaster.

"But the drivers like the traction control in all sorts of ways, contrary to what you would think. They love driving without it, but they say Formula One is actually better with it."

But while the return of traction control will be discussed, Mosley pointed out that it is not yet an inevitability.

"I've got an open mind," he said. "We're not going to have it next year or the year after, and by then probably a consensus will have emerged.

"If we really have to, we can probably run all of these very elaborate electronic systems without any driver aids by having tremendous amount of sensors and black boxes and watching everything that's going on."