Brawn: Teams should help ban driver aids
author: Hendrik Verwoerd
Speaking at last week's launch of the new Ferrari F2003-GA, Brawn said that the FIA was planning to introduce the device this season as a way of banning driver aids such as traction control and launch control.
The FIA has already confirmed it is planning a total ban on electronic driver aids from July's British Grand Prix. There had been misgivings about how the ban would be policed but the new FIA black box should address this problem. Brawn reckons that the F1 teams must help to design the device to make sure it is technologically advanced enough to detect all forms of traction and launch control.
"I think it will be much more comprehensive in terms of the data that it will gather than was perhaps first discussed. So there's a lot more input to go into the box than was perhaps first planned, so it will take some time. But I think if the teams actually help, that they take the view that it is not something to be discouraged, it's not something to find a way round.
"Let's take the concept and see if we can make it work, because it's in all our interests to know exactly where we all are with traction control. So if the teams help, if they join in developing this device and making it work properly, then it can be a success."
Although the electronics governing the device are likely to be highly advanced, Brawn would like a very simple measure to decide whether a car is legal or not.
"There was a lot of debate prior to 2001 about what constituted traction control and what didn't," said Brawn. "One team's interpretation may not match another team's interpretation. I think with this concept of the 'spy in the cab' we should be much surer because what we want to see is simply a green light or a red light. A green light then you're ok, if it's a red light there's a problem and the FIA will find out what the problem is."
Brawn expects that the 'spy in the cab' used on the cars at Silverstone will not be a finalised version.
"It's difficult to know that by July they will have a definitive device. We know from experience that when we develop these sorts of things that it takes a bit of time. I think the presence of it will mean that most teams who were perhaps a bit dodgy in the past will reconsider their actions."
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