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MPH: Mark Hughes on...

...Too much information, and the art of effective communication

There was a great piece of in-car TV from Silverstone. "The rain will be light and brief," said the engineer's voice over Nick Heidfeld's radio. At that very moment an enormous deluge deposited itself all across the track. It was another illustration of no matter how great the technology, you still need to allow the instinctual to override it if necessary.

There'd been another example on the dummy grid, where Lewis Hamilton had practiced his start technique and the engineer, monitoring the live data, suggested he modify how he did it for the start proper. "No, the start was good," replied Lewis calmly but adamantly. He repeated it as the lights changed and made a blinder, vying for the lead into Copse from fourth on the grid.