Mosley: No traction control is safe in the wet

Max Mosley has played down formula one drivers’ fears that the ban on traction control will make the sport more dangerous in wet weather. The FIA president denies that the removal of driver aids is set to compromise safety, after a group of drivers expressed their concerns to the British publication Autosport.

The print magazine reports that the drivers have opened talks with the FIA about having input into how wet races are handled this year and beyond.

“I’m confident (race director) Charlie (Whiting) will do the right thing based on us helping and advising him - and that’s why we’ve started a dialogue now rather than trying to react afterwards,” David Coulthard, whose fears are also backed by Ferrari’s Felipe Massa, said.

Jenson Button insisted: “We couldn’t have raced in Fuji (in 2007) without traction control - there would have been people spinning on the straight.”

But while agreeing that driving in the wet is always dangerous, Mosley argues that rain-affected races will actually be safer because the absence of traction control reduces the speed at which the car loses control and makes contact with a barrier.

“It will make it more difficult in the wet - but it’s difficult in the wet anyway. And people forget, even the least competent F1 driver is still amazingly good at what he does,” he said. (GMM)