ElizabethSterling wrote:I don't know what sport you've been watching until now but that's just another day in the office by F1 standards. I can remember this kind of thing happening every year for the two decades I've watched this sport. I even remember teams grumbling about Williams' interpretation of the high cockpit sides introduced in 1996... the mass damper, the J-damper, the torque-transfer system, the engine mapping fiasco of last year, Ferrari's wing that flexed when it unslotted its self, the Michelin tyre debacle of 2003, the double-decker diffuser, the double brake-pedal, beryllium alloy engines, the F-duct, Ferrari's late 90s/early 00's gearshift mechanics, the double-fuel tank, the Ferrari fuel-cooler, the B951/JS41 similarities, the Toyota V12/V10/V8 plans... those are just the ones I didn't have to look up. I find it's better this happens pre-season anyway, it's far worse to have an entire race weekend sullied by accusations of illegality.
Besides, that statement is bitterly ironic considering your signature...
I've been watching Formula 1. And in a lot of ways you are right in saying that it's just another day in the office by F1 standards and those are all great examples you cite of instances of innovations being banned. And also I agree that race weekends shouldn't be sullied by things being deemed illegal. But what I'm trying to get at is that isn't it better to answer your rivals with something better than what they have? Or at least attempt to emulate what they have? I would like to think that would be better for the sport's image (but I'm not Bernie so what would I know about that
) In the case of the Red Bull exhaust it appears to be something that can be emulated with relative ease considering that Sauber actually, if I remember correctly, were the first to devise that solution. Although I will concede that the resource limitations imposed on the teams may not make developing/emulating a given component and making it work for a given car the easiest route (or perhaps impossible if you're one of the smaller teams). I'll admit, living in the land of such restricted motorsport like NASCAR and the IRL, it's the innovative side of F1 that gives the sport an individualistic image that holds all the appeal for me, which is why I watch it and don't like seeing its innovation restricted.And about my signature: I do realize how ironic it is, given the fact that it has to do with one of the most infamous examples of innovation banning. But I actually chose it in the first place, because to me it was an example of Niki Lauda's rather blunt demeanor, which is one of the things I like about him.
