"I think all the radio issues we have is a joke," says German
Monday 25 July 2016 12:02, UK
Sebastian Vettel has angrily described the FIA's revised radio restrictions as "a joke" and also questioned the new track limits in Hungary.
F1's governing body confirmed a change in the new-for-2016 radio rules on Thursday morning, with teams now enforced to pull drivers into the pits or retire the car if they inform them of a potential failure.
The clampdown came after Nico Rosberg was instructed to "shift through" his gearbox to allow him to continue at the British GP, resulting in a 10-second penalty, but Vettel claims this improved the spectacle for the fans.
Asked what he thought of the FIA's decision, the German driver said: "Complete bull****. I think all the radio issues we have is a joke.
Full story: FIA issues new radio restrictions
"I looked at the race after and I thought as a spectator it was quite entertaining to hear a driver a little bit panicking on the radio and the team panicking at the same time.
"I think it was the human being in our sport, that is arguably very complicated and technical, so I think it's the wrong way.
"There's a lot of boring stuff on the radio that got banned, I don't see the point. If you want to change it you should change the cars. You should be able to say what you want."
The issue of track limits has been a concern in recent race, with the 'sausage' kerbs in Austria thought to be the cause of several crashes while Lewis Hamilton had his provisional pole time deleted at Silverstone for running off-track.
Electronic detection systems will be used on Turns Four and 11 at the resurfaced Hungaroring in a bid to stop drivers exceeding track limits, and Vettel once again didn't hold back.
" I think it's the FIA to blame [as they build] circuits where it's faster to run off the track than it is to run on the track," he added. "I went round the track this morning and it's quite disappointing.
"I think quite a lot of money went into it and I guess this place had to pay to put certain type of kerbs in place. It doesn't make much sense."
