Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMercedes

Hamilton expects 'struggle' due to radio ban

Lewis Hamilton believes all of the drivers will "struggle" at some stage of the Australian Grand Prix due to new radio restrictions.

The FIA has limited how much information can be given to a driver via team radio in an attempt to ensure drivers are thinking for themselves more often in the car. While Hamilton is not a fan of all the restrictions - believing it should only be limited to messages relating to car performance - the defending champion believes it will add some drama to this weekend's season-opener in Melbourne.

“It’s an ongoing thing but the time we spend at the factory and at the track was really trying to understand what the ban would mean in terms of what they can and can’t say to us," Hamilton said. "It is a big change, whether or not I agree with all the of the implications I think it’s definitely going to make it a lot harder.

"We have to memorise a lot more things, there’s so many different processes and sequences we have to go through in the car, we just have to figure out ways in which we can try to remember them.

"So sometimes you will see stickers in the car or stickers on the steering wheel because there is literally so much, and some of it is of no benefit in terms of improving our pace or anything like that, it’s just to keep the car going because it is so technical.

"So that’s why I say some of it I don’t agree with because it’s irrelevant to the pace of the car or to the spectators, but I think the idea is probably a good thing and you’ll see it evolve over the races. We’re all going to struggle probably in the first race in some way or some form but we’ve tried to prepare the best way we can.”

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.