My post was written in jest.
Hard blowing..... :-"
Like i said earlier. They had been progressively increasing the FW load tests since 2010 and it never seemed to adversely affect Red Bull. They increased the load test after Hungary 2010, between the 2010 and 2011 season and after Singapore 2012. Didn't seem to affect Red Bull in any of those instances. You're right, it was clearly worth alot of lap time, though it worked best in conjuction with the EBD (Newey's philosophy had been to get as much downforce at the rear and then match it at the front).Juzh wrote: 2011 flexi front wing was worth a lot of lap time no question about it. Otherwise they wouldn't dump massive amounts of time, money and research into it year after year. For 2012 load tests were made more stringent and that was part of their performance loss. 2012 FW didn't flex (visually at least) at all as a result.
Mercedes warning fia just prior to winter testing put RB behind simply because they had to re-think their entire approach to exhausts and wasted a lot of development time.
There's no doubt RB relied heavily on ebd since 2011, but there were other factors present as well. I seriously doubt they'll make the same mistake twice.
Totally agree. It's hard at this point in time to imagine Red Bull will not be fighting at the front next year. But then it was hard to imagine Ferrari would not be competitive in 2009 (they had fought for something like the last 10 championships, and won the majority of them) or that Williams would not be competitive in 1998 (again, they had fought for every championship since 1991 and won most of them). Every period of domination must come to an end, and it usually happens when there are significant regulation changes.f1316 wrote:Put it this way: if all 2013 cars had the ebd's removed, the red bull would still probably be the fastest car, but not by as much.
Every time this type of conversation comes up, I think 'such and such aren't suddenly going to start making bad cars' but then somebody proves me wrong: ferrari and mclaren (2009), ferrari (2012), mclaren (2013). So I feel like anything can happen
Moxie wrote:I predict that the Politics of F1 are about to get downright ugly. Investors like stability, and predictable changes. Bernie is very old, and a successor must be found for him whether or not he is found guilty in court. The legal battle will simply accelerate the inevitable. When this happens, as with any corporation the books and business practices will be scrutinized carefully. Ferrari will find that their special status is at risk, and will be making lots of noise about leaving the sport if the chosen successor is not to their liking.
As others have predicted Ferrari will have a disappointing car, but Alonzo and Kimi will drive the tyres off to bring home a few victories and podiums keeping Ferrari high in the points battle. The Fernando and Kimi show will be quite exciting. Ferrari will use this as evidence that F1 cannot survive without Ferrari, bolstering their influence over the choice of successor.
Other teams will revolt, especially the small teams. Tired of Bernies backroom dealings and tired of financially screwed while Ferrari gets special status there will be a loud and vocal call for more transparency, and a more equitable distribution of prize money.
this. Merc just seem way to confident next year with what they say about the car and engine. You can't imagine them engine up with egg on there face - if there werent sure they would say nothing. Only last week Brawn told Brundle wait till you see the car, its got it all on itSectorOne wrote:I think Mercedes is going to dominate in ways even Red Bull will get impressed.
As said a few months back, barring mechanical failures, Merc should be looking at nineteen 1-2 finishes next season.SectorOne wrote:I think Mercedes is going to dominate in ways even Red Bull will get impressed.
Good point. In 2009 we had big changes on the front and rear wings and the diffuser shape and size. That's the majority of the downforce on the car right there.krisfx wrote:I personally don't think the regulation changes are as big as 08-09 and as such don't expect to see a massive shake up, yes the engines and kers etc is all changing, but the aero stuff isn't what I'd call a revolutionary change. Maybe one or two surprises but nothing major I think.