Haas team boss Guenther Steiner thinks the FIA needs to clarify F1's radio rules after the latest controversy surrounding Nico Rosberg at the British Grand Prix.
Championship leader Rosberg finished second at Silverstone but was demoted to third after the race due to radio message received from Mercedes which helped him solve a terminal gearbox issue in the closing laps. Those messages were deemed in breach of the rules stating drivers must drive the car alone and unaided.
Red Bull boss Christian Horner led the criticism in the aftermath of the race, calling the rules "rubbish" and suggesting a time penalty would not act as a deterrent for other teams. Steiner has joined Horner in criticising the rules as they stand currently.
When asked if the FIA needed to clarify the scope of the rules, Steiner said: "Absolutely, and we all just want that for the benefit of the sport, not to do anything wrong. It would not be nice to be penalised 10 seconds and to say 'Actually I didn't do anything', and you cannot put in a protest because you have no leg to stand on. It's not black and white this rule."
Steiner says the teams are unsure what is and is not permitted from the pit wall.
"The biggest difficulty is making a judgment on what is legal and what's not. The line is not clear. How you can write a clear line on what you say, if you talk in a code, if somebody suggests what you say was a code and it wasn't?
"It comes down to the pitwall and asking 'Can we say this?' I don't really know if we can say this, but I think you can. It's the uncertainty. We need to define it better, but how easy that is, I wouldn't like to write that rule because how long is a piece of string?
"It's not easy to control. But not talking like it was suggested is not good because [too many radio messages] takes something away from the fans in my opinion. If the team cannot influence the strategy, and it's just down to the driver, it's not really fair, I would say. It's part of the sport. But telling them how to start is also not right. The car becomes a PlayStation car in saying, you do this, you do this, get to this value. It's a fine line."
The radio rules state messages can only be given to driver for safety reasons or to prevent an imminent failure. Steiner thinks the vagueness of the rules make it difficult to know what the right punishment for Rosberg and Mercedes should have been.
"With Rosberg, he had a problem with the gearbox and they told him not to go in that gear. In the end I could say that could be dangerous going into that gear because all of a sudden you are in neutral and you fly off. That's what I think. The definition of it is difficult, to rule on what is right and what is wrong."