Samples 2016 British Grand Prix Edition | Page 118

RUBBISH RULE
“One was the switch change that was
made and the second was the instruction
how to drive the car with the seventh gear
issue that they had,” added Horner after
the race.
Mercedes had told Rosberg what to
do after his car had a gearbox problem
five laps from the end. The race at
Silverstone was something of a test case
for the rules, with Mercedes arguing that
they had acted because Rosberg’s car
had a potentially terminal problem.
They have said they plan to appeal
the stewards’ decision. Horner had
warned that a light penalty risked setting a
precedent that could open the floodgates.
“If it’s just a five-second penalty or a
reprimand, it’s fair game for the rest of the
year and there will be loads of messages
that will take into account whether it’s
worth five seconds (added on) or not,” he
said.
“There’s loads of information that
we would like to give the drivers but we
can’t. The question going forward is ‘are
these rules right for Formula One?’,” said
Horner.
In Austria a week before Silverstone,
questions were raised about the rules
when Mexican Sergio Perez crashed after
a brake failure that his Force India team
had known was imminent but felt unable
to warn him about.
FIA race director Charlie Whiting said
then that relaxing the radio rule on safety
grounds risked opening a loophole that
teams might abuse.