It was announced by the FIA that as of the British Grand Prix teams will be forced to turn off their traction control and launch control systems. Also the use of fully automatic gearboxes has been banned, with drivers been forced to go back to the practice of changing gears with paddles on the steering wheel.

But for Ralf and Michael Schumacher these changes would see the pair sitting on different sides of the fence, with Ralf backing the decision while Michael announcing that he is against such aids been removed.

In respect of the changes Ralf was quoted as saying: "I am surprised about the changes but as a driver I don't really care as it means more fun and starting exciting racing again. It was started to prevent the problems we had with rumours that some teams had traction control. It was a very bad press for F1 as cheating was involved.

"Traction control was invented, now they have taken it off again, and I don't quite understand the reason. But from a driver point of view I look forward to it because I love driving without traction control and I came into F1 without it.

"I just hope that it does not open other corners, grey zones again, which gives other teams an advantage and might make the situation more difficult again."

But for Michael he expressed his dislike of the changes by saying: "I am not such a big fan of the changes coming into effect at Silverstone.

"I like the challenge of driving the car with electronic aids, because you can get closer to perfection. I don’t think the rule changes will have much effect on the top drivers, but some of the younger, less experienced ones might find it more difficult."

Michael added that he felt the lack of such devices could pose serious problems in wet conditions. He added: "Not having traction control can be dangerous in the wet, especially as the rules now only allow one type of rain tyre."

Another driver to come out in support of Ralf's view that the removal of these electronic aids would be better is BMW WilliamsF1 team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya.

Juan Pablo said: "It is a good thing that launch control is gone because we didn't really do anything but press a button.

"When you do a start and make a mistake you can't blame anybody, it's your fault and you are paying for it. But when you do a launch start and get passed by two or three cars you are only think that whoever did the settings wrong is an idiot, I only pressed a button.

"This way it's going to take a lot more out of the driver to get a good start. I have been doing some starts and it has been going quite well.

"Traction control going is a good thing as long as they can police it right. They will find a way to police it but it is going to be very hard because there are so many electronics."

As for the policing of the removal of these systems the FIA have sysetms in place which will help them detect the use of such systems. They have also offered a £660,000 reward to anybody proving that a team is illegally using the system.