I disagree, the racing has been good because of the change in tyre rules and to an extent DRS. There has been no competition at the front as so far the teams have struggled to develop their cars enough. So far only weather and experimental tyre strategy have beaten the dominant car. Something that will not be repeated enough to effect the championship.
And what about 2009 and 2010? The testing ban is 2 and a half years old whereas Pirelli and DRS have only been in F1 for 6 months. In 2009 the WDC was decided in the penultimate race where 3 drivers could still win it. Further to this 6 different drivers found themselves on the top step of the podium throughout the year. In 2010 the WDC was decided in the final race where 4 drivers were still in the hunt and 5 drivers won races. This year 3 drivers have managed to win a race and with 12 left to go, there's a fair chance that more will join them. I'd say that's a fair bit of competition!
The only drivers likely to join the winners list this season are mark webber, fernando alonso and possibly felipe massa. Or if we have another downpour, michael schumacher and kamui kobayashi.
A season is more than 7 races long. Yes, he is definitely driving well isn't he and he's had the rub of the green on more than one occasion. However, Let's look at the actual races. Only Australia, Malaysia and Turkey were won with a gap at the front. He was harried to the line at Spain and Monaco by a McLaren in the former and a Ferrari and McLaren in the latter. It is also generally accepted by most journalists and pundits that McLaren have an equal car in race trim. So yes, I'd say there is competition at the front.
Don't know if this has already been bought up so I'll link it here: http://www.thef1times.com/news/display/03727 Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko says the current championship leaders are well prepared for the exhaust-blown diffuser clampdown which takes effect from the British Grand Prix. The ban is expected to hit Red Bull the hardest as they're the team which has perfected the system, which utilises hot gases running over the diffuser to create extra downforce. The Austrian though is quoted as saying by Auto Motor und Sport that the team already have ideas to negate the ban. "We would not be Red Bull if we did not already have ideas about how to mitigate the effect [the ban will have on us]." He believes the mid-season ban has come about to end Red Bull's qualifying and race dominance. Sebastian Vettel has secured all but one pole position, which went to his teammate Mark Webber, whilst the German has won all but two races. "This time it [the ban] seems to have been [introduced] in a hurry. I would say it is about [the dominance of] Red Bull." Whilst the majority of the grid are unsure of what effect the ban will have on the running order, many, as mentioned above, believing it will hurt Red Bull the most, Marko isn't so sure and says McLaren, who expect to gain ground, will be similarly hurt because they copied the RB7 system 'very well'. "They [McLaren] copied our system very well," but he admitted, "Ferrari never really got it under control."
I completely agree with what the FIA are doing. If you can't change the set-up between qualifying and the race, why should you be able to change engine maps? It could be that a team might risk using an extreme engine map for qualifying, putting a big strain and stress on the engine for 15 laps or so, and then taking a longer pit stop to change engine maps. I doubt this will be the case, but teams will still need to find a balance between extreme engine mapping and a more conservative one - some teams may go for a more aggressive approach. I agree with cosicave that Ferrari would be the least affected from the top teams. Newey must be furious with all these recent WUM post's by Whiting - still, it makes for a more interesting season (in theory). Currently drivers can change fuel mixtures through their steering wheel. Can they also change engine maps with a button on the steering wheel (in the middle of the race)?
I believe they can only change engine mappings by plugging a laptop into the car. It would make for quite a long pitstop.
Well that's confirmation that Ferrari are the big winners here. I'm surprised that Whitmarsh said earlier that he hoped to gain half a second, assuming McLaren did copy Red Bull "very well". Thanks for the explanation. Makes a lot more sense now. No doubt Newey will be working on an in-car WiFi system to continue enjoying his domination over the other teams.
'Rule changes not aimed at Red Bull' http://www.planetf1.com/driver/18227/7004043/-Rule-changes-not-aimed-at-Red-Bull-
Something about the consistant moaning from red bull about these changes makes me think it will hurt them more than they're making out.
If you knew you had other teams in your "pocket" regarding the WCC+WDC, then you had your advantage taken away from you just to put it on a "even" playing field I'm sure we would all be ****ed off because you know you've outdone the rest. I don't think they're angry losing the diffuser advantage, and that they will get hit 5x harder than anybody else. It's more logical to think that it's just the others cant outdo and Red Bull knew they always have that at hand against the others. It's part of F1: "If I cant make one better than his, bann it so they dont get the chance to make use of it."
That's not totally fair in this case. While it's entirely legitimate for teams to protest an element of a competitor's car, it's down to the FIA to determine its legality and decide whether to ban it. Over and above that, the teams can unanimously vote to ban a particular solution after the end of a season even if the FIA considers it to be legal (e.g. the F-Duct). In this case there hasn't (obviously) been a protest (because they're all running it) - this is the FIA banning a particular solution because of the direction in which the teams have taken it. Even then it isn't being banned until next season. But given the direction of travel and the aggression of development they're implementing specific controls now to halt further progress and bring the system back into the operating parameters that caused the FIA to consider it legal in the first place.
Just reading through all the comments, the ban raises the question at the end of the year, if Red Bull were to lose the WCC or WDC, would you say Red Bull were deprived of a championship. Although there is some eleven races still left to rebuild their car innovations, so maybe it wont be as big a thing as if it was in late summertime.
