The 2011 Season

[Slyboogy]

No point in banning it in qualifying, it will raise too many issues.

KERS in 2009 was used as an overtaking advice yet they were allowed to use that in qualifying, they even took it as far as on their outlaps just before they crossed the line they would use the KERS up.

However I do agree that they shouldn't have been able to use it in qualifying.

 

[no-FIAt-please]

No point in banning it in qualifying, it will raise too many issues.

KERS in 2009 was used as an overtaking advice yet they were allowed to use that in qualifying, they even took it as far as on their outlaps just before they crossed the line they would use the KERS up.

However I do agree that they shouldn't have been able to use it in qualifying.

Yes but teams who had KERS were more hindered in 2009 due to the lower minimum weight, with the DRS technically no-one is disadvantaged but everyone knows that probably RB will be.

 

[Andyoak]

Alternatively accept DRS but design a car to maximise it's potential... its just another aero device in the toolbox.

I still say you should have unrestricted use of DRS through-out the race. It's no more of a safety risk than an accelerator; the driver is just as capable of judging when it can and can't be used... after all he has everything to lose if he messes up.

 

[Hamberg]

I've been swayed slightly on the whole DRS thing. The techie guys today raised a good point and that's that it's the first season and the FIA need to find the correct distances and zones and on the whole DRS is doing what it's designed to do with a few instances where they've got it wrong. To quote, well to paraphrase Lewis here, he said it is there to put the drivers in a position where they have the choice to attempt a pass whereas last year it was nearly impossible. He also acknowledged, like the others, that sometimes it has been wrong and too easy and that you shouldn't be able to pass on the straight and get back on the racing line before the braking zone.

But the crux is, it's new and they will get it right and doing what it's designed to do... which by my understanding is to negate the impact of dirty air rather than negate and provide an additional boost which is something we have seen.

 

[Bill Boddy]

Why don't they just bite the bullet by cutting down on the size and positioning of aero devices?

The cars would go round the corners less quickly, so what, just remove some of the limitations on the engines. Then build some tyres that don't cover everything off a single line with marbles. You never know, it might be possible to get close to the car in front due to the lack of backwash and then overtake it off line.

 

[FB]

Oh cock, Rubens says he wants to carry on in 2012 as Williams have got Renault engines

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/92859

 

[teabagyokel]

Here's a graph:

Lets see that Blue/German line go down a bit next race!

 

[Sarinaide]

Only the next race, or for a while?

 

[teabagyokel]

Only the next race, or for a while?

I'd just like to see a Championship battle!

 

[Brogan]

I'd just like to see a Championship battle!

You and 11 other teams and 23 drivers.

 

[sportsman]

Alternatively accept DRS but design a car to maximise it's potential... its just another aero device in the toolbox.

I still say you should have unrestricted use of DRS through-out the race. It's no more of a safety risk than an accelerator; the driver is just as capable of judging when it can and can't be used... after all he has everything to lose if he messes up.

If you allow unrestricted use during the race you negate any advantage to the overtaking car.

 

[Andyoak]

Can't disagree with you there but it would stop all the whinging about artificial overtaking.

I'm no aerodynamicist but the complaint has been that the following car can't get close enough and maintain grip (both mechanical and aero) because of turbulent air from the lead cars wings.

But (and this is where I'm in the world of simple assumptions) if the air is smoother off the lead car because his DRS is open would that lessen the impact on the chase car?

If that is the case are we back to getting more opportunity for slip streaming and therefore more honest overtaking?

 

[sportsman]

I did write a long article about this and posted it on here some time ago.It covers the relative distance covered by speed difference of the cars at I think it was 300 kmph and 320 kmph.
I can't answer your question as I do not have anything like enough aerodynamic knowledge to make any assumptions.
Assumptions and guesses are not in my book.

 

[Andyoak]

PS: do grass track sidecar racers have even bigger cajones?
Only ask coz I used to love watching it at an old field outside Pershore back in the early 80's...

 

[Jen]

Off topic, tby - the graph is very Jackson Pollock-esque

 

[Fenderman]

PS: do grass track sidecar racers have even bigger cajones?
Only ask coz I used to love watching it at an old field outside Pershore back in the early 80's...

I don't think so. They're certainly a bit crazier. A couple of my mates used to race grass track outfits in the 70's as they preferred to ride wrecks on grass than properly built and maintained track machines. Pete and Pete (yep, confusing sometimes - differentiated by Fat Pete the driver, and Hard Nut Pete the passenger) twice, to my knowledge and direct observation, had ridiculous accidents. In one incident passenger Pete was thrown forwards out of the chair and was run over by his own outfit. He got back in the chair and they finished that race somewhere mid-field. The other incident I saw with my own eyes was when Driver Pete misjudged an overtake so that Passenger Pete was then hanging over the sidecar wheel and another outfit attacking from behind drove over his head. I think that time they finished in the top ten! You couldn't make it up.

 

[Brogan]

Well now that we've seen that even with only 10% of blowing permitted the Red Bull is still the fastest car, it would seem to be all over.

By all accounts it may even revert back to how it was at the next race in Germany, but either way Red Bull seem to have all options covered.

 

[Brogan]

Eddie Jordan getting it wrong in the post-race chat again.
He said now that Red Bull have a 110 point lead in the WCC, it's all over.

What he fails to realise is that 110 points is just over 2.5 1-2 finishes.

Surely by his logic then the WDC is dead and buried as Vettel has an 80 point lead over Webber, which equates to over 3 race wins; i.e. a much bigger margin than Red Bull have over McLaren.

 

[Boyle]

If one looks at it like this - Vettel has only won 1 out of the last 3 races. Perhaps there is hope

 

[Fenderman]

Putting on my somewhat of a pessimistic optimistic pessimistic optimist , I can honestly say "hope springs eternal" or ... is that infernal? Can't remember.