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Formula 1
What Formula One needs, it already has
Anne Proffit doesn't want any of the ideas floating around to alter the current Formula One package to actually come to frution.
Anne Proffit
Edited: Apr 24, 2014, 7:51 PM
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So Formula One is considering adding sparks, exhaust noise, glowing brake discs and even vapor trails to spice up the show? I’ve got two words for anyone thinking of this stuff: can it.
This year’s F1 is spectacular in its own right. We’ve had exceptional races and, yeah, maybe last weekend’s Easter race in China wasn’t the most exciting thing at the front of the field, with Lewis Hamilton schooling the balance of the troops with his runaway win. Still, he did this victory with two-thirds the fuel he used last year; the race time was remarkably similar to last year’s; there were only two retirements in the 22-car field; cars banged against one another - and continued.
Perhaps that ancient mariner, Bernard Charles Ecclestone doesn’t like the sound of the new F1 engines. He’s entitled to his opinion, as we all are. But the fact that this new formula is paving the way for manufacturers to make more efficient and quick cars is inestimable. It’s remarkable that the Mercedes-Benz, Ferrari and Renault engines are able to perform as well as they do so early in this formula - after rough pre-season testing - and do so without failure.
It may not always be this way as the trio of engine designers and builders continue to massage the power plants and make them ever more efficient and powerful. But the fact that the formula is successful appears to goad Mr Ecclestone no end because it’s not what he wanted. Rather, he desired to see the same old V8 power with the same noisy exhaust continue their same inefficient pattern.
That’s a patented FAIL.
Formula One has been the leader in developing new technologies and Jean Todt, FIA president, is allowing it to continue in this manner. He should be commended, applauded as F1 marks itself as the leader in forward technology. F1 doesn’t need any more gimmicks than it already has, such as the DRS zones that are similar to INDYCAR’s push-to-pass button, and ERS recycling. Sure the extra technology adds weight to the cars but it also adds interest.
Watching to see who was using the least amount of fuel while continuing to rampage the field in China, I discovered that Lewis Hamilton had, indeed, used far less power than any of his pursuers. With clean air you can do that.
While I’m hoping this year’s drivers championship won’t simply be a Lewis Hamilton vs. Nico Rosberg affair and other drivers and teams (like Ferrari’s soap opera annex) will come along to chase the Mercedes-Benz duo, including Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel, I’m loving the new order of things in F1 and don’t want it mucked up further just to please a bunch of old men.
Introducing new technology in F1 is a must. Don’t ruin it, boys. Keep these cars as exciting as they are by design and forget a bunch of hooey regulations, please.
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