F1 Getting Better or has it Peaked?
The 2010 season of Formula One was one of the best in the modern era. It featured one of the closest and most open championships ever seen. There were four drivers fighting for the title all the way to the end of the season. The driver who eventual won the championship, Sebastian Vettel, didn’t lead the points until after the last race.
The 2011 season was supposed to offer much of the same if not more with the the new regulations allowing for a return of KERS, the introduction of the Drag Reduction System (DRS) and a new tyre supplier in Pirelli. All of this was supposed to allow for more ‘overtaking’ and better racing overall. 2011 would also see Red Bull Racing step up as a new powerhouse team and fight to retain their title against Ferrari and Mclaren.
The start of the 2011 season was very exciting. Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull Racing put the F1 world on notice by dominating the Australian Grand Prix even with a malfunctioning KERS system he won the race by 22 seconds. It looked as though the season would be a good one.
Unfortunately over the next four races it became very clear that the greatest season in recent memory may be followed by one of the worst. The complete and utter dominance of Sebastian Vettel is bordering on that of Michael Schumacher during the 2004 season where Ferrari won every race except three. There is nothing wrong with the fastest man in the fastest car winning, that is what the sport is about.
However when this is compounded with the fact that KERS is nothing more than a marketing scheme for F1 to say it is relevant because it’s cars are hybrids. KERS is used for nothing more than defensive maneuvers the same as when it was introduced in 2009, Giancarlo Fisichella would have won the Belgian Grand Prix if Kimi Raikkonnen had not been using KERS out of the corners to pull away before Fisichella could have made his move.
DRS has turned out to be the biggest disgrace to F1 I have ever seen. DRS can only be used by a chasing driver when that driver is within one second of the car it is chasing. When activated part of the rear wing element becomes parallel with the ground reducing the drag on the chase car and enabling it to go several miles per hour faster than the car it is chasing. It is basically the same as deactivating one cylinder of the car in front so the car behind can pass. This can only be used in a specified zone on the track, usually a long straight.
The result of this has been races where there are a record number of passes in a race but to me they are meaningless and it has devalued the overtaking ability of some drivers on the grid. Kamui Kobayashi is probably one of the most prolific overtakers next to Lewis HAmilton but it’s hard to notice when every lap there are 20 DRS passes. Istanbul, Turkey was the worst race by far with cars just passing and repassing, it was a shameful display from a great series.
Just when I think I will not go out of my way to watch the rest of this season The Grand Prix of Monte Carlo arrives. This race is always a little different because it takes place on the narrow streets of a fishing town. This race almost gave one of the best finishes of the season. Sebastian Vettel was running in first place on old tires while he was being caught by a quick Ferrari piloted by Fernando Alonso on newer tires who was rapidly being caught by a McLaren piloted by a possessed Jenson Button on even newer tires. With 16 laps to go it looked as though Vettel would be overtaken by Alonso and even Button. Unfortunately with a few laps to go there was a big accident and the race had to be stopped so the tack could be cleaned and the injured driver could be removed from the car and taken to the hospital.
During the race suspension all of the teams put fresh tires on their cars and the amazing finish we all wanted to see was taken away just like that. The top three cars finished where they started once the race resumed.
The next race in Montreal, Canada is also a little different since it is raced on the public roads of a park along the St Lawrence River. It looked as though Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull Racing were again going to have their way but mother nature intervened with rain and this allowed for what was probably the greatest race of the 2011 season and probably one of the greatest drives to victory ever. The overtaking during the race was genuine and they weren’t overshadowed by the DRS passing. Jenson Button the eventual race winner had five pit stops and one drive through penalty but still drove from the back of the field to win the race after pressuring Vettel into an error. This was the type of racing that was promised for 2011, it only took a race track made out of park streets and inclement weather to produce it.
I hope that the last two races of the season are showing that the season is getting better but I feel that the racing will only get worse and may even surpass the low of the Turkish Grand Prix. I know I am in the minority when it comes to viewing the season this way but the racing for most of the season has been artificial, commentators, fans and drivers know it. I hope I’m wrong though because I love F1 and don’t want to see it value the ‘show’ over the racing.
