Would it be opening a can of worms to remind people that the FIA are sometimes perceived to be in-league with Ferrari José? I'm not suggesting this myself of course, but I I think it fair to say that Miggins makes a valid point (above). But as I have said from the outset; I believe the DRS thing, if we are to have it, is hugely over-regulated. Drivers should be fully able to control all variables pertaining to the car they drive, and the governing body should play no part in how the car operates, save that of basic design parameters. If all of the activation of DRS was confined to just one person (the driver), there would be no potential loss of safety arising from having some of the car's operation potentially outside the driver's control.
I dont think Ferrari or Alonso were cheating, it was a simple malfunction, but I do wonder what the reaction would be if McLaren were the team highlighted.
Cosicave. - 'If all of the activation of DRS was confined to just one person (the driver), there would be no potential loss of safety arising from having some of the car's operation potentially outside the driver's control.' precisely !!
I don't think they were cheating, but it contravened the rules so rules should be followed, or they shuld reinstate Saubers points (c'mon the Kobay). I dislike the regulations on the DRS anyway, far too restrictive for my liking, it should, as cosi says, be totally under the control of the driver. I would prefer to see it given to all the drivers wherever they are on the track, but limit it's total usage to, say, 5 mins for the whole race, a on/off with a countdown timer switch is a fairly simple device to design and manufacture, and will be tiny and almost weightless. If they get the DRS rules right I think it will be really beneficial to F1 as a racing spectacle, without making the results contrived or 'meaningless'. Even my dad, who had grown weary of the procession that modern F1 had become, has switched back with enthusiasm. It's quite Ironic that the 2 things a vast majority (excluding me ) thought was going to 'spoil' F1 have appeared to have enhanced it back to the excitement of the mid 80's. P.S. I'm surprised, thinking baout it, that alonso didn't get a orange circle on black flag, if it had opened on a corner who knows what could have happened
Someone mentioned a standard DRS system, thats not going to work as each team designs their own rear wing, standardising that removes a lot of the advantage.
That was me. Meant just the software and the mechanism. And the button or what ever on the steering wheel. The teams would just incorperate it into their rear wings. At the moment teams are taking riks with the designs that could cause malfunctions and accidents
On the first point, they could hardly penalise the team if the malfunction had been with the FIA 'enabling' system. Sauber's mistake was purely their own, so there would be no question of them getting their points back anyway. On the second, I agree that a black & orange flag might well have been appropriate. But remember Kimi Raikkonen's flailing exhaust pipe two or three years ago? I don't think even that attracted such a flag did it?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racing_flags#Black_flag_with_orange_circle "A black flag with an orange disk in its center (also known as the “meatball” flag) indicates that a car is being summoned to the pits due to mechanical problems that are interfering with the race, such as an oil, water, or fuel leak" I don't think it would have been neccesary because Alonso diodn't need to go to the pits and it wasn't affecting the track. And, wasn't it someone from the BBC that spotted it, and was picked up at least 5 laps after? It's a hard decision to make. Really, the FIA should have a prototype F1 car on which they can design these devices and test them out on the prototype car. That way they can cover up some loop hoples and fix any problems. It's like that road-going F1 car a couple of years ago. It had so many problems, they would have been better off testing it miles and miles before putting putting it on sale
This is quite true F1Mclaren. Giving Alonso a 'meatball' would have been completely inappropriate for this indiscretion, regardless of how it came about. With regard to Raikkonen however, I think I said at the time I felt he should have been shown the flag. Then again, he was driving a Ferrari wasn't he?…
