Autosport Plus

Why F1 was right to drop a pointless restriction

OPINION: There was a minor rule change for the 2020 season that will have delighted many Formula 1 drivers - the restriction on their helmet designs has been removed. Although we won't see the results just yet, here's why this was the right move

Alex Kalinauckas Apr 19, 2020, 3:07 PM

Compared to other major sporting championships, it's quite hard for Formula 1 drivers to express themselves during competition. For safety reasons, they're understandably cocooned in carbonfibre and their machines cover a lot of the work they do to dance the cars onwards at high-speed. Whereas football or rugby players can celebrate a magic moment with their team-mates in real-time, a driver is alone until the end.

The team radio helps - and it has provided wonderful insight since it became ingrained in F1's TV coverage in recent decades. Some drivers, with Fernando Alonso the classic example, have become masters at exploiting this way of expression (although Alonso insists this is a "private conversation" between drivers and their engineers).

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Author Alex Kalinauckas

Alex Kalinauckas is Autosport's Grand Prix Editor, covering every Formula 1 race since the start of 2020. After completing a master's degree in journalism at Goldsmiths College University of London in 2014, he worked for a range of motorsport and technology publications while covering national racing as an Autosport freelancer.

A lifelong motorsport fan - no one in his family can explain quite how or why such a development first occurred - Alex joined the Autosport staff in April 2017 as the magazine’s Assistant Editor covering Formula 2 and GP3, before being made Formula E correspondent and Autosport.com’s Plus Editor in March 2018. He lives in north-east London and is constantly frustrated by the Central Line.