F1 China 2011.

[Steve Webb]

Was up early on Sunday to watch the race, and it was worth it, great racing with lots of overtaking, but it seems to me that with all the changes in regulations and all the 'toys' that the drivers have to play with these days, the racing seems to be more focused on strategy rather than driver talent this year.

All the overtaking in the last few laps was down to a combination of one driver having a technological advantage over the other.

Hamilton\Vettel was down to Lewis having access to Kers whilst Vettel didn't, while having tyres in a better condition.

Webber\Button was down to DRS and tyres.

I'm not knocking the better racing this season, but I'd much prefer to see drivers getting past on driver merit rather than a technological advantage.

Seems to me this year that its down to the best team rather than the best driver at the moment.

[SteveNZ]

Its alwasy been about the best team though, and strategy. I dont see any difference this year.

If you want to see a straight fight between drivers, watch a spec race series.

[Steve Webb]

I agree with you that it has always been about the best overall team and to a degree the strategy. But this year with all the changes the emphasis has been taken away from the driver more than ever.
Tyres with a very definite shelf life make for much tighter control over when a driver needs to come in for a pitstop. Take for example the Button\Vettel pitstop at the start of the China GP. Even last year you probably would have seen Vettel let button come into the pits, then push to the absolute limit for the next lap to get an advantage over him by staying out for 1 more lap. This year its just not possible because his tyres have also gone off which means they are next to useless.
I don't have an issue with KERS, but I do think there ought to be a weight penalty for it, to allow cars that don't want to run with it an incentive not to do so.
My biggest gripe is with the DRS and the way they have implemented it. If you must have DRS then use it to promote closer racing. Allow it to be activated when the following car is within 3 seconds of the car in front, but no closer than 1 second. That way you can bring the cars closer together, but not, as in China, allow the faster following car to get within 1 second, then just drive past the car in front down the straight. It would have been much more exciting to watch Webber actually have to overtake Button rather than just get close then have an instant 10kmh advantage and drive past him.
Bernie and the FIA are exercising too much control over the technical aspects of the sport in my opinion.

Sportscar and GT racing are far more interesting in my view, but they aren't supposedly the pinnacle of motorsport, nor are they on the TV every\ every-other weekend.

Just my views.

[Evodelta]

I agree with you that it has always been about the best overall team and to a degree the strategy. But this year with all the changes the emphasis has been taken away from the driver more than ever.
Tyres with a very definite shelf life make for much tighter control over when a driver needs to come in for a pitstop. Take for example the ButtonVettel pitstop at the start of the China GP. Even last year you probably would have seen Vettel let button come into the pits, then push to the absolute limit for the next lap to get an advantage over him by staying out for 1 more lap. This year its just not possible because his tyres have also gone off which means they are next to useless.
I don't have an issue with KERS, but I do think there ought to be a weight penalty for it, to allow cars that don't want to run with it an incentive not to do so.
My biggest gripe is with the DRS and the way they have implemented it. If you must have DRS then use it to promote closer racing. Allow it to be activated when the following car is within 3 seconds of the car in front, but no closer than 1 second. That way you can bring the cars closer together, but not, as in China, allow the faster following car to get within 1 second, then just drive past the car in front down the straight. It would have been much more exciting to watch Webber actually have to overtake Button rather than just get close then have an instant 10kmh advantage and drive past him.
Bernie and the FIA are exercising too much control over the technical aspects of the sport in my opinion.

Sportscar and GT racing are far more interesting in my view, but they aren't supposedly the pinnacle of motorsport, nor are they on the TV every every-other weekend.

Just my views.

The new rules make the racing much more watchable, it's like saying that the old Topgear was a man's program, now the whole family can watch it, which is best?

Emphasis taken from the driver? No, not really, although they have all the weapons, they still need to know when to deploy them and for how long to be of maximum benefit

Oh, and they can still drive into the wrong pit area....

Don't get me wrong, I know where you are coming from, but how far back do you want to go? People not wearing seatbelts/harnesses so they get thrown from their cars which have turned into fireballs?

On another note, turbocharging is supposed to make a comeback soon, now that will be interesting, not that any secrets will be let out for about 10 yrs.....

[Steve Webb]

The new rules make the racing much more watchable, it's like saying that the old Topgear was a man's program, now the whole family can watch it, which is best?

Oh I don't disagree that its more watchable this year, I just feel that its also more contrived as well.

Emphasis taken from the driver? No, not really, although they have all the weapons, they still need to know when to deploy them and for how long to be of maximum benefit

Except thats not the full story is it. DRS - You can open the wing between 2 predetermined points, but only if you were within 1 second of the car in front when you passed a 3rd point.

Oh, and they can still drive into the wrong pit area....

Agreed!

Don't get me wrong, I know where you are coming from, but how far back do you want to go? People not wearing seatbelts/harnesses so they get thrown from their cars which have turned into fireballs?

I don't want F1 to go backwards at all, I much prefer to see innovation in the sport, or bending of the rules if you prefer, the double diffuser and F-duct are classic examples of thinking outside of the rules to get results. I just don't like the idea of these innovations being forced upon all teams. KERS, good example, when it works it creates overtaking opportunities that wouldn't have normally existed, but Redbull have proven you can still be competitive without it. (Lots of KERS problems this season) I dare say given the choice they would remove it from the car for the next race. But there is no weight penalty for running KERS, so you may as well have the system, even if it doesn't work properly, rather than remove the system and add ballast.[/QUOTE]

On another note, turbocharging is supposed to make a comeback soon, now that will be interesting, not that any secrets will be let out for about 10 yrs.....

That will be interesting, should see some exciting 'innovations' then!


I just feel that overall the rules have allowed F1 to move to a point where overtaking is difficult, the powers that be seem to have woken up to this finally and are desperately trying everything to get cars passing each other.
I just hope that Bernie's idea of a giant sprinkler system for the tracks was a joke!