F1 tinkers with rule with disastrous results
Roar Guru
By Tristan Rayner, 16 Mar 2010 Tristan Rayner is a Roar Guru
- Tagged:
- Bahrain, F1, Formula 1, Michael Schumacher, motor sports
Despite high hopes, the opening 2010 Formula 1 race in Bahrain delivered absolutely nothing in a thoroughly boring race for fans. Should there be immediate action from the Formula 1?
The season had all the hype, much of it focused around the return of champion Michael Schumacher. The new rules, including no more race refuelling, looked to provide new excitement and do away with the passing in the pits.
Expectations were sky high.
The only problem was someone forgot that most of the overtaking actually does happen in the pits in Formula 1. With less pit stops, there wasn’t much else happening. That same person must have also forgotten that Bahrain is a shocking circuit to start the season on, and the new goat track, sorry, “endurance” section the cars raced on for the first time was bumpy, narrow, twisty and hopeless for racing.
All this despite the entire track taking 8.3 million man hours to build, and having won an award for excellence from the FIA in 2007. Clearly not an award for racing excellence.
Instead of an exciting race, we watched as fast cars were stuck in hot dirty air washing over them from the slower cars in front, reducing traction and cooking tyres. We didn’t even see an attempt to overtake from anyone in the top 10, even when the clearly quick Red Bull of Mark Webber drove up close behind Schumacher early or Button later in the race.
Drivers being overprotective on their tyres was the chief problem.
Instead of drivers seeking glory, most tried to go gently-gently on their tyre compounds to make sure they lasted the full race. Even World Champion Jenson Button admitted he was was protecting the tyres rather than hammering flat out.
But you can’t blame him because even if he tried to go flat chat, overtaking was impossible, anyway. The other benefit to the teams of going slow was getting more engine life, of which only 8 are allowed over 19 grand prixs before penalties are applied. This isn’t beneficial to the spectacle, though.
No one calls conserving tyres and economical driving real racing.
Webber summed it up on his Twitter account: “Wow! New rules, not so sure huh? Why do they keep dicking with it? … No chance of overtaking – again”.
But bringing back refuelling won’t solve anything. That would be a simple reaction to a symptom of the problem, rather than an attempt to fixing the root problem itself, which is the lack of overtaking.
It is too early to tell if this season is doomed to be boring.
The slippery Albert Park track in Melbourne usually serves up a cracking race. But F1 needs to be on the front foot to fix the problems facing the sport to have spectators once again in awe of the pinnacle of motorsport.
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Tifosi said | March 16th 2010 @ 5:23am | Report comment
I agree, as happy as i am with a Ferrari 1-2, the racing was poor.
LeftArmSpinner said | March 16th 2010 @ 8:07am | Report comment
i watched qualifying, and then the first 15 or so laps. when there was still no real change to the grid starting order, I switched off and went to beddie byes. I watched the highlights package on the internet, it ran about 25 seconds. I got it all in that time. compare that to a Reds game these days……………
Chris said | March 16th 2010 @ 11:06am | Report comment
It seems to me (and admittedly this is only my second year of watching F1) that beyond someone pulling out or stuffing up the first turn there is no way to actually move up the order this year. Qualifying means a lot more than the actual race. Is Bahrain one of the less open tracks and will there be more opportunity for overtaking in future races?
Hansie said | March 16th 2010 @ 11:55am | Report comment
The only exciting racing was between (I think) Glock and Trulli, who were dusting over 16th place at one stage. They went at each other quite hard, but apart from them nobody tried any overtaking (and you can only get limited excitement over a battle for 16th place). I thought the extension to the Bahrain circuit was ridiculous. The circuit was plenty long anyway, and the new section was rough and tight, making overtaking even less likely. It also took away a relatively interesting part of the old circuit, from turn 4 to about turn 7.
JF said | March 16th 2010 @ 12:06pm | Report comment
I hate the Bahrain circuit and others like it, what a empty, souless race that was to watch.
Tristan Rayner said | March 16th 2010 @ 7:53pm | Report comment
Pretty well summed up by all comments I think.
Bahrain has been consistently pretty dull, and while the track is to blame in some respects, it’s never been this bad.
The event itself is supposedly second to none: take the attendance this year of all the former world champions bar Kimi Raikkonnen (who’s probably being yelled at by a co-driver somewhere in the WRC) & Piquet Snr (who can’t show his face around town anymore). Not just the drivers, but their championship winning cars as well, including Sir Jack Brabham and Alan Jones in his Williams FW07.
Stunning and would’ve been magic to see on the race track for spectators. Shame the rest wasn’t up to scratch.