FIA court upheld the decisions made by stewards during both the races and deemed the new Double Decker rear diffusers legal. Though this brings trouble and extra hard days ahead for the rest of the teams, a ban on this innovation would have meant a journey backwards in time (just like Samajwadi Party crying out ban Computers and English during elections) F1 can look ahead to a glorious season ahead with clash between the titans with ‘powerful’ minions. With three unexpected teams having the technological superiority and potential of giants (Ferrari, BMW, et. al) to catch up with them, it can well get to the last centimeter of Abu Dhabi GP this year.
Brawn GP, Toyota and Williams will definitely have an upper hand in Shanghai, it will not be impetuous to say that others will not be far behind in catching up. BMW and Renault have a prototype ready which they expect to test during this weekend. We can expect the same from Ferrari and Mclaren as well. For some teams it will be easier but teams like Force India will be struggling to keep up. It is not all about the money and effort, but there are some more fundamental problems before these 7 teams for this major adaptation. Accommodating this rear double decker diffuser can mean redesigning the chassis and suspension for some teams. With ban on independent testing, it is not going to be a cakewalk. Looks like FIA’s motive of cost cutting will be lost this season, if the teams want a competitive season.
Some F1 pundits are speculating a whitewash with Brawn GP dominating the entire season. Though this still might be a possibility, when it comes to F1, its not as simple as that. Team needs more than a fast car to stay in F1. Its not like an equation in which you enter values and get an answer. The biggest challenge for any team is of course, reliability; in case of both car and driver. Button is a calm composed fellow with a positive racing mentality, but I do not see that in Barrichello. It was evident from both the races. I am willing to put my money on either Rosberg or Trulli for the coming races based on their performance. It is also interesting to note that Red Bull minus the diffuser advantage and KERS were outstanding on the track as was Robert Kubica. All the factors have to combine to give good results. Who knows, maybe the 8 engine per car rule might well turn out to be the decider in the end!
There has been a lot of reshuffling ahead of Chinese GP. First up its Ferrari. Off the track, they have made some serious changes in staff with technical director Aldo Costa sent back to Maranello to lead the efforts on making F60 faster. In another huge step, they have decided to enter Shanghai GP without KERS. Up till now KERS has actually worked as a ‘Curse’ for the champions. It will definitely provide a major boost to team’s reliability if not speed.
Interestingly enough, BMW think that its time to test KERS on their other driver Kubica this weekend. It will be interesting to see how they manage his weight issues. Mclaren and Renault are keen to improve their performance with their diffuser models. Here is a snap from above Shanghai International Circuit. (This picture was probably taken when the track was being built and probably never updated by google earth. With the Chinese you never know!)-
The projected track
The integrity of Formula-1 will again be tested on 29th of April in Paris when Mclaren along with Lewis Hamilton will face the judges of FIA in the alleged fraud controversy. F1 is getting uglier by day with new scandals sprawling every now and then. What Alonso and Kimi said earlier this week might just turn out to be the fact-‘Championship will be decided in court this year’.
April 16, 2009 at 4:04 pm |
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