• The Inside Line

Out there on their own

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Given that Formula One is a sport based around tracks, it shouldn't be surprising that we have something of a one-track mind. Every week another issue works us all up into a frenzy, be it on track fracas a la Spa, or the current fixation with the change to team radio.

Speaking to different people about the radio ban has led to as many assessments of the likely result as I had conversations. The drivers are largely confident that little will change where they're concerned, but these are athletes who have had confidence bred into them since their first forays into karting.

Team principals and race engineers are also confident that they will be able to overcome any challenges presented by these new guidelines, pointing to F1 teams' near unparalleled ability to adapt to whatever is thrown at them by the regulations, commercial rights holder, and FIA. And there is a strong argument for saying that they're right. This sport is built on high-speed adaptation, and there's no reason to believe this era of radio silence (ish) will be harder to get used to than changes to tracks, tyres, and technology.

But the conversations I've had with some of those who have far greater access to the breadth and depth of radio transmissions that have never been - and will never be - broadcast have a slightly different take on the situation.

For all that we hear clips of 'set devo-max 5' and 'you're losing three-tenths in the second sector' broadcast over the world feed, these messages are but the very tip of a rather substantial iceberg.

The amount of radio traffic flying back and forth between cockpit and pit wall is extraordinary. For every 'leave me alone, I know what I'm doing' there is a driver asking the team to confirm his gear selection approaching each and every corner, asking for the GPS coordinates of his rivals for the podium, and needing encouragement to attempt a passing manoeuvre.

Over the course of the Singapore race weekend we the audience will be able to establish which drivers have spent the past few seasons being nannied by their teams, and which drivers just put their foot to the floor and get on with it. And based on a number of off-the-record conversations with those who hear vastly more radio than we do, the identities of the dependents and independents are certain to surprise.

After all, the radio we hear broadcast over the world feed has been selected for airing. There are no accidental transmissions to the general public. And in any scenario where material has been specially selected is a scenario when those in charge of the selection are allowed to shape the narrative through what they choose to broadcast and what they decide should be left unsaid.

If the season-long narrative is best served by painting a driver as being incapable without the support of his race engineer (as per Felipe Massa in his Ferrari days, when the Brazilian's number two status was an integral part of the story), then that is the picture that will be painted irrespective of how accurate a reflection it is of reality.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

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