Radio clampdown made no difference - Hamilton
World champion Lewis Hamilton says the clampdown on radio communication made no difference whatsoever during the Australian Grand Prix.
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The FIA introduced stricter limits for the information the teams can give to the drivers during the race, in the hope it makes for better racing.
Hamilton, however, said he got all the information he needed, and claimed that, in fact, he preferred it this way as he had more control now.
"Honestly it was no different to any other race," said Hamilton. "I had as much information as I've ever wanted. I had a little bit more control of the stuff that I do in the car, which I prefer, on the engine side.
"Otherwise there was no difference.
"I had to figure out my strategy just as I would have been last year. It really didn't make any different whatsoever."
Took away from the show
Williams' Pat Symonds said that the clampdown had only taken away from the show, without having any positive impact on the racing.
"I don't think they had an impact on the outcome of the race," Symonds said. "I think the TV must have missed them a little bit, because there was so few.
"I don't think it did anything other than to add workload to people to add software to the dashboards and things like that.
"I don't think it's achieved anything, other than take a little bit away from the show."
It was a challenge - Wolff
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, on the other hand, believes the lack of communication made things harder for his team.
"It does [hamper us not being able to talk]," he said of the his drivers' slow starts. "When you get off the line for the formation lap, you can see how much the slip was - and if you can't adjust, it makes the difference.
He also said the radio clampdown created an issue later on in the race. "It was really difficult because we couldn't tell [Nico Rosberg] to look after the left rear.
"And it's difficult because if after all these years you are used to transmitting all this information to the drivers and optimise the car and also make the car survive - that lack of communication is definitely gonna lead to situations which are beyond the engineers' control."
Additional reporting by Andrew van Leeuwen
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