Force India question new telemetry rules

Force India boss Otmar Szafnauer has questioned Liberty Media’s decision to limit the telemetry the teams can see, to give the drivers more responsibility and make the races more unpredictable.

The proposal is to remove ‘virtual garages’, which the pit wall use for several different purposes. The removal of these would leave more down to the driver, rather than the team in the garage.

Another reason why this is set to be introduced is to help teams reduce their spending to the $150 million budget Liberty Media is set to introduce. The removal of ‘virtual garages’ will aid the smaller teams catch up, and hopefully make racing more entertaining and squeeze the field closer together.

Szafnauer said: “We have a virtual garage, so we’ll have to get rid of it like everybody else. We just have to be careful that we make those types of decisions in the areas that are actually going to save us money.

“We’ve got to be careful we don’t dumb down the sport without gaining any benefit.

“Because dumbing down the sport also has an impact on the fan that cares about the sophistication and technology of Formula One. You don’t want to alienate those guys."