The knee jerk reaction to the dull Bahrain racing has more to it, than pepping up racing.

The most anticipated season for a long time met with an anti-climax as we saw once again procession of cars, with hardly any overtaking.

The quick-fix solution that has come up, in the recent days, is to introduce a second pit-stop to add excitement, as the teams only pitted once to change tyres at the last GP.

The proponents of this idea were a few teams viz. McLaren, Mercedes and Red Bull. The more vociferous amongst them being the Red Bull Chief Christian Horner.

Is this a genuine concern considering the fans, f1 racing in general, or just for a particular team?

The Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel was leading the Bahrain race until a faulty spark-plug put brakes on the German, who conceded three places to finish fourth.

The two Ferrari's though finished 1-2, it was looked upon as more of a race win due to Red Bull's reliability failing them than the Ferrari's capability to overtake it.

The important aspect being missed out here was though the Red Bull had a blinding pace at the start, the game was changing after the first pit stop for, as the Ferrari's were steadily catching up the German lap by lap.

The Ferrari, which as rumours have surfaced now, were carrying heavy fuel than other teams, while Red Bull the least. This position, as the race progressed, was getting even, as Ferraris were getting lighter, and thus going faster.

The Red Bull was also suffering faster rear tyre degradation (harder tyres) in the later laps than Ferrari.

All this was playing into advantage of Ferrari, but before we witnessed a classic fight between the two teams in the final laps, the spark-plug gave away on the Red Bull, which provided an anti-climax to what would been an exciting end to the season opener.

What can be noted from the above thus, the fuel advantage of Red Bull only lasted till the initial laps, but once that went away it was all down to tyre wear, and Ferrari at the moment is the master in managing their tyres well.

This advantage of Ferrari is the strongest among all its closest competitors to the title viz. Red Bull, McLaren and Mercedes.

With a second pit-stop thrown into this mix, the picture will dramatically change, as Red Bull, would then need not worry about the tyre wear, with fresh tyres in the second pit-stop, and can keep the advantaged gained initially on lower fuel till the end.

This is known to the Ferrari very well, and hence when the topic first camp up, Domenicali stated “We should wait and see how the races develop. There could be other situations so I would only want to give my opinion after a few races. We should wait to see a few more scenarios before we make a judgement about the way it really is."

The Red Bull thus seems proposing this rule only to get more advantage to itself, and is being vocally supported by McLaren and Mercedes, both of whom though not having major tyre wear, are also not having any great advantage too.

Pressing for a mandatory second pit-stop rule, just after one grand-prix, thus seem to be more of an ulterior motive from the Red Bull team to gain advantage over a team (Ferrari) that has developed a car on the rules set for the season, by sustaining its tyres well to handle heavy fuel load, while still maintaining the pace.

The Ferrari is rumoured to be developing a new B-spec car with focus on a new double diffuser. However, the team currently faces a danger of its advantage being blown away by its rivals.

Bernie Ecclestone, would surely be a busy man, and scratching his head over all this. Speaking to the UK Daily Telegraph, however, he said "I am not sure that they will vote unanimously for the mandatory two-stop race, which Red Bull proposed”, indicating that there are teams who are opposed to this idea.

Bernie also had further stated that he will be waiting up until China, before any decision would be made.

Whether FIA succumbs to pressure of the proponents of an additional pit-stop or stand their ground with the current rules, remains to be seen.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 19/03/2010 12:52 by Jay.

I believe all the teams have to be in agreement before the proposed "changes" is accepted.

It ain't going to happen. If they did not stop Brawn DD inspired procession last year definitely Ferrari is not going to agree. And why should they?

You're really reaching here man, and I think it's prety bad form to be posting this dribble given you're a site admin too.

If Vettel had won on the weekend - and it's one thing to catch and another thing to pass altogether, as Rosberg found - the race would STILL have been a boring race.

A side effect of a second pitstop might play into a few other teams favour, but I certainly dont think it's the driving force behind any push for the second stop. A Ferrari will benefit from new tyres as much as anyone else will.

The race was just flat-out boring, and a mandated second stop should have been in the regs prior to the season. If there's a Safety Car in the early laps of a race, everyone will just dive into the pits at the same time and we'll have a procession until the end because cars cant pass once they get into the dirty air thanks to the double diffusers!

Rather than attempt to spin this discussion as somehow being anti-Ferrari, take your tin foil hat off and look at the bigger picture.

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________________________
Mark Webber - WINNER 2009 German Grand Prix!

Quote:

we'll have a procession until the end because cars cant pass once they get into the dirty air thanks to the double diffusers!

Wasn't that evident last year?.

@redwebber07,

the bigger picture is what Horner seeing mate, he just can't ask for rule changes with only one race into the season.

He is the one who first proposed a knee-jerk reaction to the situation, and its just not me, you can go out and check the news world in f1, and you will realise the biggest benefit with 2nd pitstop is to be gained by Red Bull.

If anybody is thinking that a 2nd pitstop is gonna do something great to the sport, its hilarious, as if we never had 2-3 pits, and what happens, the procession still continues, until there is a pitstop error.

Ferrari has done a great job in maintaing tyre wear, the benefit of which is gained by longer stint on the tyres, and second mandatory pitstop totally defeats it.

Red Bull has good fuel efficiency, they use it to advantage at start, while Ferrari has it in later part on tyre wears. So, its evenly matched!

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 19/03/2010 05:06 by Jay.

+1

And in the meantime:

FIA Tells McLaren To Scrap Bahrain-Spec Diffuser


" Germany's Auto Motor und Sport said McLaren aerodynamically exploited the hole for the external engine starter, making it much bigger than necessary and thereby gaining another diffuser level"


Mclaren DD issue

Quote:

And in the meantime: FIA Tells McLaren To Scrap Bahrain-Spec Diffuser

Week-old news. It's just a matter of making the hole for the external starter smaller. Whitmarsh said it's no big deal at all.

It'll make the Macca slower Old news or not.

Races has been boring since 2008
a bit late to complaint now

but its not only redbull,
macca and merc will be the most benefited of a mandatory 2 stops

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OK Folks, Heads up!!!,We are going to win this championship.
Fernando Alonso dixit



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 19/03/2010 10:36 by kojikabuto.

I think even with one pit stop Red Bull are still ahead of Ferrari , you will see it next weekend in the Australian GP, i am sure Red Bull are Faster than Ferrari.

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----Webber versus Alonso----

@ Whitey*~,

LOL, how can you say such a thing??? Vettel's Red Bull had a good qualifing lap and was in clean air for the entire race. That is what we really saw. The Ferraris were most likely dialed back because of the heat but I think the Ferraris are much faster then the Red Bull. With the high fuel load at the start of the race it is better to be slower in the beginning and pace yourself and not to go out like a rocket and burn the tires up. I think it is really about pacing yourself and maintaining a static position until the end of the race. Have you ever seen an IndyCar Race???? That is the kind of racing it has turned into. Vettel's Red Bull car certainly did not have any huge lead any time during the race and actually fell back into the clutches of Alonso and Massa & Hamilton for that matter. The Red Bull fell off in pace because of a "Sparkplug" issue or was it a fuel issue??? There certainly is some on going debate regarding this. The Red Bull may have had speed only because they ran to light on fuel. The next race will address many car issues from many teams. The Ferrari's will NOT run hot like this race and WILL show even greater pace. That is for sure.

Forza Ferrari!!!!

The diffusers will have to be changed for Melbourne by the teams who have a too large hole circumference. New regs have been issued for starter motor entry, no ?

sessions



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 19/03/2010 15:50 by sessions.

yes they will, sessions

Whitey, i agree the redbull is the fatstest car,newey is the best designing,but it might not be enough.

neweys car use to be fragile,and since the engine frezze
the renault engine still lacks pace even if they alowed to touch it a bit last season.

plus ferrari has more resources to develop the car

is going to be a tough fight

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OK Folks, Heads up!!!,We are going to win this championship.
Fernando Alonso dixit



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 19/03/2010 18:46 by kojikabuto.

crying is over for horner

the fia just approved allow renault to modify their engine again, this time in proper way

they could do that when nando was there..but no of course
what do i say

now the ferarri engine will be the worst as the only one still frozen

[www.autosport.com]

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OK Folks, Heads up!!!,We are going to win this championship.
Fernando Alonso dixit

Horner's day doesn't seem complete unless he's complaining about something some team is doing. He's getting really annoying. I hope McLaren and Ferrari give red bull a proper a55-kicking in Australia. Of course, if that happens, he'll find something else to complain about. "McLaren took up too much space with their motorhomes!! And the shiny chrome paint on their cars are hurting sebastien's delicate eyes!"



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 19/03/2010 19:21 by scorpio.

@ scorpio,

LOL. Shiny paint! Sun in the eyes! That's a good one. I think at the next race and throughout the year for that matter, we will end up seeing a Ferrari vs. McLaren battle. Both teams have the best pairing of drivers and the best Engineering Staffs. It will be the same battle as in the old days. I see Red Bull and Mercedes/Brawn being a bit behind. I certainly take nothing away from those teams but Ferrari and McLaren have the greater depth in Engineer resources and the edge. They are also more used to winning then the others. My dark horse picks as things stand are Sauber, Williams and Renault.

Forza Ferrari!!!!

FrankAlfa your posts in this thread sound very much like you feel Red Bull is a big threat to your Ferrari team this year, which is great news for me, because 3 years ago i posted on this Ferrari board and said sometime in the next couple of years Red Bull will be a threat to the Ferrari team and there were some Ferrari fans that did not believe me.

You watch in the next couple of race's FrankAlfa Red Bull are Ferraris biggest threat and they are a huge threat.

Remember not only in Bahrain Vettel was slowed by engine problem but also Mark Webber made a mistake in qually 'which can happen' but this meant Ferrari only had one Red Bull in front of them , but you watch when Webber nails his qually lap along with Vettel Ferrari will have 2 Red Bull cars to contend with.

This is not a troll post or anything like that i am just calling it how i see it, we can come back to this thread and see how my post holds up after the Australian GP...cheers.

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----Webber versus Alonso----



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 20/03/2010 03:50 by Whitey*~@.

@ Whitey*~,

Yes, Red Bull is strong and having Newey is a big plus for them. The bigger question is are they able to develop the race car??? When Newey was at McLaren he produced some very good race cars but one got the impression that to much of the design and development fell on his shoulders alone. It will be interesting to see if Red Bull can develop their race car as fast as Ferrari can. The Ferrari Engineering staff should not be underestimated. They have the best Engineering Staff in Formula One. McLaren, Red Bull, Mercedes, Sauber, Williams and Renault also have exceptional people but Ferrari have the best and the best facilities to match.

I say again, Vettel did not pull out any lead on the Ferraris. He did not pull away from them. The Ferrari's were close to him and just buying time. That tells me the Red Bull and Ferrari are very close on raw speed but the Ferrari looks like they have the edge in tire preservation.Things like multiple fastest laps by the Ferrari tell me they have much more to give. The Ferrari's pace at the end of the race tells me they seem to have a big edge and the other team had better understand that. Anybody can make a step and things develop and change. It will be a great Formula One Championship!

Forza Ferrari!!!!

All good FrankAlfa, it should be a good fight this season between Ferrari & Red Bull.

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----Webber versus Alonso----

And don't forget Macca.!!!

I do not thing so ......It will be more surprises from Renault

Ron Dennis questions spark-plug theory of Red Bull

“The lap times dropped so rapidly that one can imagine the electronic control unit (ECU) switching to a conservative programme to save fuel,” Dennis is quoted as saying in a report of the Cologne newspaper Express.

His theory would explain how Vettel’s RB6, having perhaps conserved enough fuel for a final surge, was able to record fully competitive times in the final laps to prevent Nico Rosberg from passing.

During Dennis’ long reign as McLaren team boss, Adrian Newey worked for a long time with the British team. And Newey, the main author of the RB6, is renowned for pushing the envelope with his F1 designs.

“The problem with the Red Bull could be design,” Dennis continued.

“It could be the fuel tank is too small, or the fuel consumption is higher than they expected,” he added.

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