F1: Radio limits impossible to police - Button

Jenson Button believes the FIA will find it almost impossible to police its new clampdown on pit-to-car transmissions in Formula 1.

For this season new regulations have been put in place severely restricting the information that can be passed between a team and its drivers throughout a race weekend. It is part of the FIA's tightening of the rule that states "the driver must drive the car alone and unaided."

McLaren driver Button feels race director Charlie Whiting and his team will struggle to keep tabs on every message the teams and drivers relay.

"It definitely will add something. It's just policing it is pretty much impossible," Button said of about the new directive. "They [race control] are not going to listen to every single radio [message], every single broadcast every time we use it. It's difficult to police, really."

Suggested to Button some messages could sneak under the radar or be coded, he replied: "Yeah, they won't be listening to every radio message. We'll have to see how it goes, but hopefully they can listen to as much as possible to make it as fair as possible."

Ahead of his 17th season in F1 beginning with this weekend's Australian Grand Prix, Button's experience should at least stand him in good stead given drivers will have to use their wits to plot their way through a race.

Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff has suggested the ban on messages will ensure drivers are less "remote controlled" from the pit wall.

Button feels his experience gives him an edge over a rookie such as compatriot Jolyon Palmer, but even then the Renault driver will not be too compromised.

"It definitely helps the more experienced drivers," Button added. "For Jolyon it's not a bad situation to be in because the drivers who have been in the sport for the last three years are used to being told everything on the radio, whereas Jolyon probably isn't used to that.

"He still has a big learning curve, but I think he knew he would have, so you go into the data and learn everything you can, whereas you become lazy if you've been in the sport for a few years. I remember the days we had no information about what was going on, so I'm looking forward to it."

Originally on Autosport.com