F1 Fanatic

Here’s an interesting trackside observation from Darren Heath the @F1Photographer!

Get yer’self to a slowish corner @ ‪#f1montreal‬ Listen to the ‪#redbull‬ cars.If that ain’t off-throttle blowing I’ll eat my hat…

Jaime Alguersuari mentioned it on the radio yesterday, saying it had a distinctive exhaust note as the driver lifted off, but either couldn’t find the words in English or (more likely) didn’t want to say any more than that.

Has anyone on Sky picked up on it? or anywhere else?

Maybe it’s just an acoustic effect from closing the hole in the floor…but it doesn’t half remind me of Ayrton Senna’s last race in Japan. He was out of the race at the first corner, spent a few minutes watching and listening to the cars going by, and came back convinced he could hear traction control (which had just been banned) on Schumacher’s car.

I thought all off-throttle blowing was banned, not just the old exhaust positions.

The rules are too grey, teams will always find loopholes. FIA need to be clear as mud on these things.

Darrel Heath reckons Red Bull are still doing it, and that the parts intoduced for Valencia are making it even more obvious. Rumours are now starting up that the car could be formally challenged.

If that’s the case, I doubt the teams are going to be as magnagamous as they were last time the RB8 was at the centre of a row. After all, it’s not like Valencia has the same prestige as Monaco.

I thought I heard some funny noises from Vettel’s car in Valencia. Not 2011 levels, but it certainly didn’t sound ‘clean’