A Fine Whine

21/05/2012

So the sour grapes are turning into a fine whine.

The Pirelli tyres, doing exactly what they were asked to do, are now creating a "lottery" in F1 where one doesn't know who's going to be a hero or zero from one race to the next.

And what's wrong with that?

Formula 1 engineers, the best and the brightest, who pore over terabytes of data after every session, are perplexed as to the exact parameters of how these tires operate.

Good.

Who are the complainers? We'll start with Michael Schumacher. "It's like driving on eggs…" he has famously said. He wasn't complaining when Bridgestone designed a dominant tyre for him and Ferrari. "It's a lottery…" says Dietrich Mateschitz whose team dominated last year due to his innovative and talented designer.

Others are complaining of course, but two of the more dominant figures of the last fifteen years are the ones moaning the loudest. Everyone in Formula 1 thinks close competition is great, as long as they are the ones out front. The current mantra is "Well, the fans like it but….."

Whoever is responsible for the current scheme of things in F1 needs to be lauded. From the start of Q1 to the chequered flag you're never quite sure who is going to score points, let alone climb atop the podium. How can that not be a bad thing?

It's what has been sought for years, with various iterations of gimmicks and technical changes none of which has been terribly successful. I for one do not see this current generation of tyre as a gimmick. It's a challenge.

Cast your mind back to last year. What was so exciting about last year? It certainly wasn't the chase for the championship. It was a dominant campaign by Sebastian Vettel led by Adrian Newey. You were a fool in your pik 'ems if you didn't pick Vettel for first, you were throwing away a guarantee.

Last year's excitement came from the close battles further down in the pack as the midfield closed up considerably. This year those midfield teams have raised their performance. Add a bit of uncharacteristic disarray at McLaren and Newey being mortal and you have half the field with a shot at victory from race to race.

If you look at Mercedes' performance in China compared to their other four races, their dominance in one race versus their overall results, you can reason there are two more teams, Lotus and Sauber that have a very serious shot at victory this year.

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