OP, I feel Red Bull may suffer more than most as they seemed to have perfected the EBD better than the rest. Just look at Spain with the Mclaren's straight line speed and when it came to bends and chicanes the Red bull still had enough to see off Mclaren, remember Hamilton saying to Vettel after the race "you had some much down force into the bends" and Vettel just smiling. Must give credit to Colin Kolles for highlighting this breach of the rules. You cant have gases produced mechanically assisting or replicating aerodynamics.
Yes, isn't it ridiculous? However, one would imagine that said bookmaker (I believe it was 'Paddy Power') would have closed any betting on Vettel. Ha! I am trying to refrain from making the obvious joke. (Please forgive me Irishgreen)
Newey has probably figured out a replacement months ago. It's not like him to rest on his laurels. Trust me, Red Bull won't be affected too badly. McLaren on the other hand...
I keep saying (repetition sorry) that FIA (Bernie I prefer to say) will have to close up the front runners, else income will fall for all the teams. Going to the wire is required!!
This KERs thing is the achilles heel of Red Bull and now the qualy regs have changed regarding EBD, the playing field is now much leveller, I am not sure these autocratic rule changes mid season are entirely fair, surely it's up to the other teams to catch up. I know what its like to have flexible dynamic goalposts, my Yank employers are adept at deploying them. Why is life all about maximising the cash flow nowaday's
Gone are the days of turning up to see a legendary car like the Lotus 25, Mercedes W196, Mclaren MP4/4, Williams FW14B and the Ferrari F2002,2004. Now we are stuck with cars having their balls chopped off for equal competition.
It could be worse. Red Bull could be using a fan car. If i read correctly, the brabham drivers only went at half their possible performance, so the car wouldn't get banned for being so much better than anyone else. Maybe Newey is trying to design a hidden fan on the rbr.
this is the flip side to a testing ban. Other teams, some of which have the best minds in the world working for them, can't make significant gains on other teams without testing. Combine this with a points system that disproportionally rewards the winning driver and you're faced with a 20 race season being decided by race 10. The FIA have 2 options: Remove the testing ban or Change the rules in a way that removes a potential source of development.
We need to keep car development. If the teams weren't allowed to develop then red bull would still be miles ahead, and the season would be dull.
Surely if testing came back then nothing would really change as although McLaren/Ferrari et al could develop their updates more, Red Bull would still be in front because they get to test more too?
what happened to the rule of teams outside the top 4/5 in the previous year allowed to test in season?
I guess the problem El_B is determining who the top 4/5 are, and at what point of the season do you take that from? The end of the previous season? After each race?
The ban on testing is like having premiership football or rugby where the players aren't allowed to practice with one another and work out set plays and tactics between games. They have 3 practice sessions per race to assess new parts, tune the car to the track and get the drivers used to it. It's not very many steps away from basically saying no in season development. What next, and aero freeze? Lift in season testing and let teams develop their way out of their problems.
I disagree. Has the racing been poorer due to the testing ban? Not at all, so it can't be that detrimental to the sport can it? It saves money and allows teams to compete just the same as before. Would Brawn have won their WDC and WCC in '09 if in season testing was still allowed? Probably not as they barely had enough money to scrape through to the end of the season. One of the few things a return of limited testing would be good for is giving reserve drivers time in the car. That way, practice can be used to development/set up for the drivers who will actually be in the race.
I still think that the best solution for in-season testing is to let the teams test all day on the Friday but their race drivers are only allowed three hours each which can be used however the teams want and the other time a reserve/test driver has to be used. In this way teams get a bit more testing time with no extra cost in terms of travel and they get chance to give their reserve driver time behind the wheel.
