Opinions are divided over Formula One's decision to ban radio messages relating to car performance.
Designed to prohibit teams from coaching drivers on track, those on the pit wall will no longer be able to relay information relating to the car's balance, though they will still be allowed to provide information concerning pit strategy, lap times and safety or reliability issues.
"For me it is a little bit funny that they change this type of thing in the moment that is not the correct moment," argued Felipe Massa, who claims the ban will penalise teams which don't have a large display on the dash.
"You have so many things (to monitor) that the teams that have the big steering wheel can see (potential problems) before the other teams," he added.
Firmly on the other side of the argument is Jenson Button, who doesn't believe it will make such an impact.
"We're not going to know what to do," he joked. "Turn left, turn right. Brake. Accelerate. It's going to be a big issue!
"I just think it's nicer for the drivers personally because being told that your teammate's quicker than you through a corner and you've got to make time up there - he's braking 5 metres later - all that homework should be done already," he reasoned.
"It's preparation. It's about being ready for the race and understanding what you're going to get in a race situation."
Much of the radio chatter this season has been about brakes, particularly around the management of them, the radio ban heaping more of that responsibility on to the driver.
"It's a challenge because on the radio they can only tell us 20% of what they used to," admitted Nico Rosberg, who suggested the formation lap is where the change will be felt most.
"There are so many procedural things," he explained. "Of course we didn't expect this, so we've got quite a complicated thing which now is a challenge."
At Williams there are concerns about how the lack of direction from the pit wall might impact a car's reliability, with Bottas implying we could expect to see more retirements as a result.
"Last race my rear brakes were overheating and I needed to go forward with the brake bias," said the Finn. "Without the team telling me that, I probably would have not finished the race."
"As far as I'm aware when it comes to a safety issue I think they're allowed to say," contested Lewis Hamilton. "For those sorts of things I think it's pretty sensible that they are able to inform us, but in terms of sharing the settings that people have on their steering wheel or brake warming, I'm quite happy that that disappears."
"Obviously you get a penalty if you say something on the radio that you shouldn't, but you have to finish a race to get a penalty," added Button.
"If there's a failure of something you can adjust settings on the steering wheel, they can tell you what to change.
"If there's a problem, they will tell us there's a problem," the Briton continued. "You'll get a penalty at the end of the race; you won't be retiring because you'd rather take a penalty than retire.
"The problem is monitoring what people are doing and whether they're using coded messages or not it's very difficult."
Indeed exactly how the ban will be policed and penalties applied remains the great question mark over the concept. A meeting between the teams and the FIA to clarify the situation was held this afternoon, the outcome of which seems to have only added further complexity to a hastily enforced rule designed to simplify things for the fans.
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Mat Coch
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