AFP/London

Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg yesterday welcomed the sound of radio silence for the final six races of their dramatic duel for the drivers’ world championship.

But the airwave clampdown was criticised by Felipe Massa, the veteran Williams driver warning ahead of Sunday’s Singapore Grand Prix that it could lead to a major accident.

Mercedes teammates’ Hamilton and Rosberg, who have fought an intense and sometimes acrimonious battle this year, will, like the rest of the pitlane, no longer have unrestricted radio contact with their teams.

This follows the ban on ‘performance-related’ radio communications by the sport’s ruling body, the International Motoring Federation (FIA).

“All the fans are cheering so it looks like the right way to go,” said German Rosberg, who leads Hamilton by 22 points ahead of Singapore.

“In my opinion it’s definitely a good thing, because it’s just more pure racing. Until now we did so much based on what they (engineers) told us to do on the radio. Now it’s up to us.”

Hamilton agreed.

“I quite like the idea, but in some ways it makes it harder, like engine strategy - how are we to know what strategy to use?”

He added that the clampdown could affect the intense title battle between himself and Rosberg.

“It’s going to be really important that we’re on the same strategy. Always.

“There’s been a couple of times when Nico has been on a different strategy to me that gives either more or less power and those things disadvantage you.

“So as long as you don’t have any problems there, the rest of it we’ll manage.”

He said the ban would also mean purer racing.

“I hope it’s a plus for me. I remember way back in karts, we didn’t have any data, so nobody could ever see where I was quick, anything I did, any trick I had.

“So maybe it’s a bit of a step back in that direction—I quite like it that we’re left to do it ourselves.”

Massa offered a different view, explaining: “In some areas it’s fine.

“The team tells you not to use the tyres so much in corner five because you’re using them too much compared to your team-mate. This is okay, this is not a problem.

“But you have so many things in the car that we’re doing because if you don’t do (them) maybe you put too much temperature in the rear brakes because the battery gets too high and you just put fire in the car. Maybe you can have a big accident...”

He added: “We have seen situations where Lewis had a fire in his car. Maybe you can have that many times if you’re not having the right setting.”

Massa said he plans to take his concerns forward to the International Motoring Federation (FIA) Race Director Charlie Whiting.

“If it really stays like this, it will be a big fight tomorrow in the drivers’ briefing,” he said.

He added: “You have a lot of codes that you guys will not know. Whatever things you invent and the driver understands, they’ll change that and nobody will know.”

Fernando Alonso compared the ruling to the practices in other sports. “I think this rule has no benefit. It is like basketball or football, you don’t allow the coach to say anything,”

In a statement, the sport’s ruling body clarified the ban on technical information, saying that any “information concerning damage to the car” is allowed.

 

Ricciardo targets podium ahead of improving Vettel

Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo believes he can get back on the Formula One podium in Singapore on Sunday after his winning streak ended in Italy two weeks ago.

“I guess I am expecting a podium. I think we have to aim for that if we want to stay in the title hunt,” the smiling Australian told reporters on Thursday.

Ricciardo is the only driver to break the Mercedes stranglehold on winning this season with victories in Canada, Hungary and then Belgium in his first season with the champions.

His car should be much more suited to tackling the demands of Singapore’s tight, floodlit street circuit than the sweeping curves and long straights at Monza where the Mercedes drivers finished one-two.

Ricciardo sits third in the driver’s standings on 166 points with six rounds remaining, 72 behind leader Nico Rosberg, but is confident he and champion team mate Sebastian Vettel can be more competitive in Singapore than in Italy, where they finished fifth and sixth respectively.

“I believe we will be the second best team out of the box tomorrow. The question is how close can we get to Mercedes. I definitely think we are going to be closer than Monza,” said Ricciardo.

“This is obviously a track that should help us out a bit more.”

Vettel has won the Singapore Grand Prix for the last three years on a 23-turn layout that seems tailor-made for the Red Bull, a dominance Ricciardo is hoping to continue this time around.

“If we can be within a couple of tenths (of a second per lap) then that would be good result... it means we can race with them on Sunday and I expect to be a couple of tenths in front of the next best team,” he added.

“All going well, we should be on the podium.”

GETTING TO GRIPS

Ricciardo has enjoyed a remarkable first season at Red Bull and sits 60 points ahead of Vettel, a feat he puts down to the fact that the raft of changes following the last campaign had less of an impact on him, coming from a smaller team.

“I think it was easier to come from a Toro Rosso to Red Bull because there was a smaller difference between the cars from last year to this,” he added.

“My (Toro Rosso) car did not have as much grip as Seb’s Red Bull from last year so the grip loss for him was a lot bigger than it was for me, to be fair. So it probably took him a lot longer to adapt than I did.”

The Australian was quick to point out that his early-season dominance over his German team mate has evaporated in recent races with Vettel proving faster than Ricciardo in qualifying.

“I don’t think he is struggling as much as people think. He has out-qualified me for the last three races now so he’s obviously got to grips with the car better,” he said.

“My race performance has been the surprising thing. I think what I had going for me the past few races was tyre management... I have been able to look after them a bit better.

“In terms of pure speed, from now until the end of the year, there shouldn’t be any more question marks over us.”

Ricciardo said it was also too early to raise the question of team orders.

“No, not yet,” he said. “While both of us are still mathematically eligible then we still able to race and do what we can. Then if one of us gets knocked out before the other then I think we may apply some team orders.”

 

 

 

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