F1 Fanatic

PM, I think those rules only apply for in-season. For new rules, the FIA can impose them and only if there is a big enough opposition will they change their minds, out of pragmatism, not “legal” necessity. That’s why FOTA went to all those lengths in 2009, because they had no way of blocking them for the next year.

I seem to remember a system used in ChampCar called Push to Pass where the drivers get 60 seconds of boost to use over the race. I think that was it, no recharged every lap, no only within 1 second of a car, no can’t be used to defend position etc.

If two cars were following closely and the second car went for the overtake using Push to Pass, the first car could either do the same to defend or let them go to save his boost for later in the race.

I’d prefer this type of system over KERS and DRS.

@ Calum,
it’s not very easy to see though is it,

A rear wing that opens up can be seen from the wide shots on TV, it’s great

Arguing for the Fduct seems to be just arguing for the sake of it. It does the same job as the DRS by extending top speed by reducing downforce.

Here’s my opinion on the whole thing.

Thre’s no point in bringing back the F duct. The only reason it was good last season is because only McLaren had their’s optimised. Introduce it next season and everyone would have a good system, and if everyone can use it anywhere there’s not strategic value to having it. I’m not entirely sure how you would limit its use, and it’d would be difficult to tell who’s using it. Plus it would bring back ugly shark fins.

KERS recharged after 2-3 laps might be a good idea, but it could be a lot less effective than DRS if drivers use all their KERS, fail to overtake and have to wait for 3 laps to overtake again.

Here’s the thing. It’s very difficult to tell if DRS is making races better because of the overwhelming effect Pirelli tyres have on the race. One could argue if we need DRS or F duct at all. DRS was introduced really “to improve the show” but Pirelli tyres have done just that. Would we still be rating China a 10 if there was no KERS or DRS, but just Pirelli tyres? I think it’s possible we might have.

It’s early days and I think we need to give DRS a chance over the season, but from my eyes DRS is a solution to a problem already solved.

I agree with liberalising KERS. The most damaging thing to the system are the arbitary restrictions placed on them. If you have to restrict the system do it with a budget cap and nothing else. I’d absolutley disagree with placing more restrictions on the KERS, we not want a push to pass button, few things more gimmicky than that. What will Jimmie “racing series design to cause crashes” Johnson say?

I think we’ll come to enjoy the DRS a little bit more when we reach tracks like Spain or Valencia where dirty air really does destroy racing. Personally, I see the DRS has a stop gap solution till we see what the grand plan looks like in 2013. By which point efforts to make F1 significantly greener will be having a real effect.