Todt brushes off radio ban critics

FIA President Jean Todt has been unfazed by the criticism that the radio ban has been receiving since the conclusion of the European Grand Prix on Sunday.

Leading the criticism was Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, who claimed he was in a dangerous situation on the Baku City Circuit when his team obliged to the newly implemented radio regulations and refused to tell him which engine mode he should be in.

The Brit added that he kept on taking his eyes off the track trying to change the mode on his steering wheel.

Agreeing with Hamilton’s criticism included Ferrari duo Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel, McLaren driver Fernando Alonso and team boss Toto Wolff.

However, despite popular figures blasting the radio ban, Todt believes that the teams and drivers should simply work around it.

“We’ve always believed that we had to remove the so-called driver aids because it’s fine, we can help drivers, we can do it on the road,” he explained.

“But this was requested unanimously, it was asked to reduce all aids, all assistance given to drivers for the race and this is part of this approach.

“We can say maybe that the cars are too complicated.

“But we have just concluded a 24-hour race [at Le Mans] with cars that are more and more complicated.

“So it’s up to the teams and the drivers to work so that there is a chance to offer the best possible performance.”