Smedley: F1 can't go back to something that doesn't exist anymore

Williams' Head of Vehicle Performance, Rob Smedley, believes Formula 1 is in an era which fully justifies drivers receiving assistance from their team during races, and that the public's vision of the sport should evolve accordingly.

On the back of the FIA's easing of the rules determining radio communication between a team and its drivers, Smedly argues that the radio clampdown did not make sense as the sport's degree of complexity not only warrants but renders necessary a team/driver communication.

"I think from an engineering point of view, it’s absolutely the right thing to open up the radios again," explained Smedley.

"The cars are incredibly complicated now with these power units, and to be able to drive the car at 200mph and manage the power unit or any other problems that arise was just asking too much."

To those who claim, much to their chagrin, that F1 is no longer a driver's championship, Smedley believes it's time the perception of the sport also follow into the modern era.

"Everyone wants to go back to a Formula 1 that doesn't exist anymore, when we had carburetors, when we had throttle linkages which were mechanical linkages, rather than the incredible complex cars we have now.

"We've gone to something else. It's a team sport, and we have 500 people who work in the team.

For Smedley, modern Grand Prix racing is all about an integrated package, where the driver is a part of the total sum.

"If you take this inane argument that the drivers are alone in the car, then why don’t we take a step back and get rid of all the engineers, because 'it’s the drivers and drivers alone'?

"And we'll bring two cars here and we'll bolt them together... or we don’t even have to do that. We can bring a bag of bits and they can bolt them together and they can get into them and drive them and they can get out and talk between themselves in that truck there.

"Where do you stop? It’s an inane argument, to be honest. It’s a team sport, whether or not it’s called the drivers' championship, whether or not it's called a championship from the moon, it’s a team sport.

"And if it wasn’t a team sport, then we wouldn’t have 500 people who work for the two drivers or for the good of the team."

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