Fernando Alonso Fed Up With The FIA

McLaren driver Fernando Alonso said Friday he’s given up on trying to keep up with the ever-changing rules and regulations of Formula One.

After the FIA changed its radio rules policy again, Fernando Alonso has thrown up his hands at trying to figure out what’s in the Formula One rulebook.

“I don’t care. I give up,” Alonso told Motorsport.com. “They can tell us what we need to do in every race. We know things change from race to race and now we are back to the rules we had about a year ago, more or less.

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“I think at Spa it was when they got tough in terms of radio and so on, and it looked as if the championship and the races were going to be super spectacular, and nothing has changed.

“It’s even worse, so we are going back.

“The same with the track limits,” he continued. “There were track limits, then this morning there weren’t track limits, now it seems there’s three strikes.

“So tomorrow when I go out during qualifying I’ll ask them what I have to do and I’ll try to not waste any more time.”

Alonso’s comments came Friday after the FIA confirmed that they will no longer restrict messages that are relayed over the team radio. That decision comes less than a year after the restrictions were put into place.

The sport’s governing body had made a concerted effort the last few races to crack down on the assistance messages drivers could receive from the pitwall — Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg was reprimanded with a 10-second penalty in the British Grand Prix, while Alonso’s teammate Jenson Button was punished in the Hungarian Grand Prix.

The lift on the radio rules ban was agreed upon during this week’s Strategy Group meetings, however, the FIA will continue to impose penalties for the duration of German Grand Prix weekend for those drivers found in violation of the “three strikes” track limit policy at Turn 1 at the Hockenheimring.

Alonso wasn’t the only one with something to comment on. Mercedes executive director Paddy Lowe also spoke during Friday practice about another recent rules dilemma.

Lowe shared his displeasure in the fact reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton took it upon himself to approach race director Charlie Whiting about the flag controversy surrounding his teammate Nico Rosberg at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Rosberg captured pole position for the Hungarian GP during a period when double-yellow had been issued. Hamilton claimed his dialogue afterward had nothing to do with the inquiry into Rosberg’s actions that happened later on.

“I don’t believe I influenced the stewards’ enquiry,” Hamilton said of his conversation with Whiting, adding, “I have spoken to Charlie for clarification.”

Lowe reiterated the same rhetoric, but admitted that Hamilton’s decision to approach Whiting probably wasn’t the best idea regardless of his intent.

“It’s my understanding that Lewis did go and see Charlie but it wasn’t in any way to seek a review of Nico’s lap – it was for his own understanding of what should be done in the future, how that should work for him in the future,” Lowe said during Friday’s Q&A press conference, per Autosport.

“I think that was regrettable.

“Personally, he should have kept to advice from the team and we can obtain that from Charlie as necessary. But I don’t think there was any harm done. It was just a misjudgement from that point of view.”

Between Alonso’s frustrations and the Hamilton-Rosberg debacle, it’s clear that Formula One has a disconnect between its rulebook and its drivers – one that it needs to solve sooner rather than later.

What do you think about the current Formula One rules situation?

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