Back in February, I wrote about the new moveable wing, or Drag Reduction System (DRS), that would be used throughout the year in Formula One for the first time. I wrote this:
A pass at the pinnacle of motor sport should be something momentous that should be celebrated in my view. I hope it doesn’t create
A pass at the pinnacle of motor sport should be something momentous that should be celebrated in my view. I hope it doesn’t create races where there is so much going on it is hard to focus on what is happening – like in NASCAR for instance (which is ironic because nothing at all happens in NASCAR, and yet when you actually watch it, so much passing happens that there’s no sense of achievement about it).
The wing isn’t going to make a slow car win races, nor is it going to make a quick car lose races. But it just seems wrong to me.
Now that we’re a couple of hours away from the 10th race of the season in Germany, it seems right to review this position. First, let’s look at the statistics of the season so far.
- Race Winners: Sebastian Vettel (6), Lewis Hamilton (1), Jenson Button (1), Fernando Alonso (1)
- Podiums: Sebastian Vettel (9), Mark Webber (5), Jenson Button (4), Fernando Alonso, (4), Lewis Hamilton (3), Vitaly Petrov (1), Nick Heidfeld (1)
- Pole Positions: Sebastian Vettel (7), Mark Webber (2)
- Fastest laps: Mark Webber (4), Felipe Massa (1), Lewis Hamilton (1), Jenson Button (1), Sebastian Vettel (1), Fernando Alonso (1)
- Laps led: Sebastian Vettel, 435/551 (78.95%); Fernando Alonso, 47/551 (8.53%); Jenson Button, 31/551 (5.63%); Lewis Hamilton, 19/551 (3.45%); Nico Rosberg, 14/551 (2.54%); Felipe Massa, 5/551 (0.91%)
Clearly, these paint the picture of Red Bull Racing‘s domination with Sebastian Vettel never having been off the podium (in fact he has only been either first or second at the end of a race) and Mark Webber appearing high in all statistics apart from race victories and laps led – whenever Webber has been on pole, he has lost the lead within the first lap.
There is little doubt in most people’s minds now that Vettel will become a double World Champion at the end of the year.
And yet, despite the utter thrashing that Red Bull Racing are giving the other teams, the majority of the 9 races so far have been thrilling, with racing going on throughout the field. When you sit and watch a race now, you rarely see the leader – such is Vettel’s march to the championship that he gets fleeting glimpses on TV. Instead, the focus moves to further down the field, where a combination of DRS, Pirelli tyres – another new element for this year, tyres that won’t just run forever – and KERS (a 80bhp power boost) create some stunning action. True, not all the races have been action packed by any means – the Valencia race was downright dull – but even at Monaco, where traditionally race results are decided after qualifying on Saturday, there were drivers fighting for position up to the end.
This was the intention of the new rules, the spicing up of the action, and it certainly has improved the spectacle of Formula One. Whether Vettel wins the championship by a country mile, or if someone can produce a spectacular comeback, remains to be seen. But as long as the races have enough racing going on to keep the interest of the casual viewer, it will survive in the long-term.
