FIA believes that this, in turn, will discourage teams from using a safety issue as an alibi to convey performance enhancement messages, since coming to the pits will automatically attract a hefty time penalty. The FIA note says that a permitted message is: "Indication of a problem with the car, any message of this sort must include an irreversible instruction to enter the pits to rectify the problem or to retire the car."
The British GP saw Nico Rosberg face issues with his transmission and was instructed by the engineer on radio to skip the seventh gear in order to avoid a critical car failure. While stewards did pose an inquiry into the matter after the race, Rosberg attracted only a 10 second penalty, since it was concluded that the car issue was genuine and only the engineer guiding Rosberg to avoid the seventh gear was a breach of rules. The penalty however, did cost Roseberg the second position, plummeting to third on the podium.
Nico Rosberg received a 10 second penalty for breaching radio rules at Silverstone
FIA understands that this cannot be allowed in the upcoming races, for teams would be willing to take a penalty, if they could save time by instructing the driver and not bringing him back in the pits. The governing body has also clarified that instructions to select driver defaults by the team need to be made only in case of a loss of a sensor or controller, which cannot be detected and handled by an on board software. Furthermore, the radio instructions to change settings in no way will enhance the performance of the car beyond the prior loss of function. It will also be the responsibility of the teams to satisfy the FIA technical delegate if such a situation arises.
In addition, rules have also been tightened about car damage with teams now only allowed to tell drivers about broken bodywork rather than components. Another change in the FIA radio rules is that the restrictions will only count when the car is out of the pitlane, and not out of the garage. In effect, drivers can receive instructions to solve an issue in the pitlane, without having to go to the garage.
