NewsOnF1 - A couple of differences

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Dear Sir,

I refer to your opinion article entitled "Pace car Villeneuve strikes again!", dated 23 June 2000.

It was a very interesting piece of writing. But while I agree with most of your observations, there are a couple that I beg to differ. Here are my differences, beginning with the least to the greatest:

1. "Today the only thing that counts is power, separating the teams into the haves and the have nots" - implying that a faster car disadvantages the rest of the drivers. But surely, in a sport that deals with speed, power is everything. Nobody tells an athelete competing in a race to forget about building up muscle power and concentrate on skills alone. If the other teams could not come up with the necessary hardware, well, too bad. Nobody is stopping them from doing so. They have to buck up and do something about the situation, if they want to compete at all. Putting the blame on a slow car is tantamout to asking indirectly the faster runners to slow down to that the slower ones could catch up and give them some competition.

2."Good pit performance - the outcome of the race depends more on teamwork, car preparation and playing the game than it does on the skill of the driver" - implying that all the background work actually has a lot to say in determining the outcome of a race. Yes, I agree, but isn't F1 about teamwork? where the entire team is called to participate in the race? The thrills and spills are lived by everyone involved, where victory and disappointment are shared all round. In a sport as demanding as F1, teamwork cannot be denied. However, their amount of
contribution to the success of the driver and car can be cut back by some other means as outlined in the next paragraph.

Having stated my differences, I would like to state my agreements:

1. "Today because overtaking, on all but a few circuits, is virtually impossible races are won during qualifying, starting and pit stops" - you are spot on. More power counts, better teamwork counts, and good pitstops count too. But the real battle should be on the circuit, and the only way to make that possible is to make overtaking a possibility. This will go a long way in redressing the differences in starting grid position, or pitstop strategy.

2. "Instead of defending the current F1 regulations they (FIA) should start working on something that will bring the excitement and sport back into F1" - yes, the F1 is becoming very predictable. There should be more excitement than the current stale show dished out every fortnight.

On the whole, I think the article was well balanced and insightful. I hope the FIA big wigs are reading it.

Regards,

HN K.- Singapore

The Heretic replies:

I could not fault your arguments. All of them are spot on and in fact we do not really disagree.
My obsession with the current quest for power at the exclusion of almost everything else is not because I believe that in essence power should not be regarded as a major factor. Over the years it has always been true that there is no substitute for controllable power in any form of racing as there is nothing else that improves straight line speed as much.
With the current formula, however, the power is used to not only go faster in a straight line but with the wings it is converted to grip around corners. That in itself is not bad, but more power means more downforce which increases the cars dependence on clear air as well as increasing the turbulence it creates and THAT is what is getting me bent out of shape.
Turbulence and the need of the current F1 car for non turbulent air is what is making overtaking impossible.
As cars get faster pressure increases to make circuits safer. Corners get sand traps and tyre barriers but the only way to make straights safer is to break them up with a chicane which, again, reduces the ability to overtake.
No I am not against the pursuit of power, only the current consequence of it.
The same applies to your comments on team effort and pit performance. I enjoy watching a good team get a car out in a hurry, but that is not what I am watching the sport for. The driver is a major part of the team and over the last two years I have seen his contribution go from being key to just being a pilot. I just want to see racing again.
The sad thing is that the current regulations were supposed to improve the situation. When they outlawed slicks the FIA thought that they have removed a large percentage of grip which should slow cars down through corners and make it easier to overtake. They could not have foreseen the massive and radical development in aerodynamics, which has replaced most of the lost grip but exacerbated the overtaking problem.
Apart from a radical departure from the current F1 regulations, I can't see how they are going to fix it.
Any ideas are welcome - we may not have a big say, but we can safely assume that the FIA are more concerned than us and would accept ideas.
Thank you for the feedback

The Heretic