I suppose, but I feel like Singapore is the night-time Asian equivalent of Monaco, and then Thailand is....
I only read about this 'modesty panel' this morning and I thought it was the silliest thing I've read all year. It's like blocking out the step with a big 'censored' sign or putting elastoplast on the Elephant Man.
Completely nonsensical solution. A more sensible solution would be to mandate that the nose cone should go all the way down, like this handy example, one of the most gorgeous F1 cars I've ever seen: please log in to view this image Would be a much more aesthetically pleasing solution to prevent cars from "mounting" the car in front as happened to Webber at Valencia and - perhaps more concerningly - to Hamilton at Spa, which is lest we forget the only reason these stepped noses exist in the first place!
The trouble with a nose which goes "all the way down" is that it tends to 'snowplough' by burying itself under whatever it might hit. The result is equally dangerous to a high nose which will tend to 'ride' by surfing whatever it hits. Therefore, the optimum is to have the first contact point in line with the centre of mass, together with as many potential 'target' surfaces as possible being perpendicular to the direction of travel.
I can't ever remember this happening and prior to 2010 most cars tended to have low noses, the cars themselves are too low for a nose cone to bury underneath.
From twitter - joseluisf1: *Translated from Spanish* There are rumors that RB could present in Suzuka developments to strengthen the leadership in the world of equipment and that (allow Vettel to fight)* I think that's what it was trying to translate? *2 According to the rumor, if the enhancements of RB function in simulations, might even surpass the McLaren but only milliseconds Sure ****ing hope so as Suzuka will be a bloodbath for the RB8 when going up against the McLarens and Ferrari's.
Craig Scarborough has finally read through the 2013 regs for us What he found other than the obvious is:
The blown diffuser ban has actually had a detrimental effect on F1 in the sense that it hindered the backmarkers' progress towards the midfield. It did, however, succeed in making the fight at the front a lot closer. Banning Mercedes' DRS still confuses me, I think it's just innovation and it's not like it's given them any tangible advantage this season.
According to Gary Anderson, the DDRS has actually hindered the Merc, as it makes the car harder to set up.
I think its completely daft they are still advancing it to a Triple DRS as it doesnt work very well and its banned for next year.
from 2014 the noses will be even lower, with thinned front wings and shallower rear wings (with no beam wings) please log in to view this image 2013\14 Technical Regulation Changes
It does raise the questions though of just how bad is that HRT? And how well are they actually driving it? I remember De La Rosa in an interview at Catalunya saying that the top teams will be able to take turns 2 and 3 flat. When asked about his own car, he said that never mind being flat, he'd need to shift down 1, maybe 2 gears, and was short on downforce so that the car would be squirming all over the place, ruining the tyres so he'd be out of grip by the time he was halfway round a quali lap.
