41–50 of 253 posts
I love that this is really a cutthroat battle of engineering. Behind every driver there's a team of really bright individuals who are brainstorming, modeling, designing, tweaking, and refitting, to figure out just how Red Bull's doing it.
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When one guy leads by 30+ seconds, while everyone else fights for fractions of a second, either there's a major breakthrough or somebody is cheating.
That's 30 seconds accumulated over many rounds. You should compare 1-2 seconds per round to your fractions of a second and that's not as uncommon as you suggest. For example, look at the Singapore Grand Prix 2011, except for #2 there are similar margins between the top racers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Singapore_Grand_Prix Or Australia 2011, Vettel won with 22 seconds ahead: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/201…
Not just old tyres, but a problem with his front wing after collecting rubber
Couldn't it be some sort of new notification system for the driver which gives him instinctive feedback and lets him drive the engine the same way traction control would?
"Any device or system which notifies the driver of the onset of wheel spin is not permitted."
If the secret is the automated use of KERS, you'd see it in the on-screen graphics (the HUD-esque display shows when a driver is deploying KERS). Also the article makes the comparison in noise - but surely that noise is caused by the engine being limited/throttled, something which they could not get away with in this season since the ECUs are all the same. A KERS-based traction control wouldn't make the same noise be…
In an environment where innovation has been strictly regulated against (better engine management software? NOPE. better foil design? NOPE), the fine art of sticking to the letter of the law but totally bending the spirit of it is naturally where the bleeding edge of F1 design is going to lie.
Much the same in cycling - there are many innovations that could potentially improve speeds: as a simple example, recumbent cycles are faster under many conditions. But, the UCI sets its rules based on innovations up to 1972, in order to make a fair comparison with Eddy Merckx. Consumer bikes surely suffer for this lack of innovation at race level.
Regarding competitions, I definitely think every cyclist has to ride the same type of bicycle, technology-wise, but I'd love to see competitions using alternative designs.
Couldn't it be some sort of new notification system for the driver which gives him instinctive feedback and lets him drive the engine the same way traction control would?
Nope. Humans can't react nearly quickly enough for such a notification system to be of any use.
I find the justification presented for only Vettel having the technology a little strange. It's common to test new systems on one car before rolling them out across the team. If the technology works and is reliable, Webber will have it before the end of the season.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's 30 seconds accumulated over many rounds. You should compare 1-2 seconds per round to your fractions of a second and that's not as uncommon as you suggest. For example, look at the Singapore Grand Prix 2011, except for #2 there are similar margins between the top racers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Singapore_Grand_Prix Or Australia 2011, Vettel won with 22 seconds ahead: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/201…
The problem is not only the +30 second lead. It's the time the 30 second lead was achieved in. After the second safety car, Vettel was just driving away from Rosberg with 2+ seconds a lap. That's an unbelievable difference, with Rosberg also racing for a top team (namely Mercedes, same team as Hamilton). There are also speculations Rosberg was on old tires and held the rest of the pack up, but still, 2+ seconds a lap…
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when its no longer entertaining
I would argue that it was more entertaining before it was made safe through technological advancements. It would be interesting to see a series that used self driving cars that could take more risks.