All show and no go
The first F1 race is done, and frankly that was pretty weak. A quick recap – Vettel on pole, Ferrari’s win – nothing much happened in between.
The only interesting part of the race was…no can’t really find anything. Maybe me playing with the new mobile F1 app on my phone. Seriously, with all that happened over the pre-season, and the new rule changes, new driver pairings – ultimately, it did nothing to make the racing more interesting. If it weren’t for Vettel’s engine having an issue, the only meaningful pass in the race was Alonso overtaking Massa for 2nd at the start. But, should I really be surprised?
The engine rules dictate a long lasting engine, and the teams have a limited number of engines they can use over the course of the season. Plus, there’s an engine design freeze, and a rev-limit – there is no real hp advantage. So, you’re not going to power your way past anyone. Then, you have drivers taking care of their tyres during the race, so no-one wants to take any risks. The tires are too good, so they don’t degrade meaningfully. It would be nice if they got worse quickly, but not destroyed, so the cars slipped and slid more. Then, to make matters even worse, the cars are so finely tuned aerodynamically, that any slight disturbance (i.e. being behind a car) makes their handling go to pot. So cars can’t follow anyone close enough to give them overtaking opportunities. So, it’s not hard to see why racing is dull.
What’s the fix? Ban testing altogether, so you get cars that have never been driven on track for the first race, and then it’s a race to see who can fix their car the quickest during the course of the year? Or bring back full testing, so the cars can be even more efficient? Loosen up the tech regs so we get weird and wonderful solutions? Or maybe just throw your hands up and give up the sport altogether?
Nah, that’s not going to happen either. Maybe the trick is to simplify the sport? Take away all the high-tech; telemetry, drive-by-wire, manual gearboxes, bring back the clutch pedal, no engine regs, stickier tyres – then you have a good mix of engineering, driver skill, and bombastic engines like they used to be. Make an engine that scares the bejeebers out of the driver, and makes grown men cry in it’s presence on the track. Take away power steering so driver fatigue comes into play.
Just look at how simple it all used to be.
Or maybe I’m over-reacting after one race, and we just need to wait and see how the season pans out. But then again, isn’t that what we’ve all been doing for the past couple of seasons anyway?
All pictures are copyright Autosport.com/Sutton.
