24/03/2014
FEATURE BY MIKE LAWRENCE
Just when you thought that Formula One had become dull, the FIA hit its stride with a new reason to disqualify a driver. The beauty of Ricciardo's disqualification is that nobody watching the race could have guessed it. He did not cause an accident, or speed in the pit lane, in fact he did not put a foot wrong, but still the rule book was thrown at him.
It is unlikely that many people outside the teams even knew there was a fuel flow regulation. We now hear that the FIA Stewards and Red Bull were in an ongoing dialogue backstage, but this does not help the fans. Tens of thousands of the home supporters went home believing that their man had come second, and they were cheated.
We who watched at home were also cheated, but we had not dug deep into our pockets to witness a sham.
We have a rule about fuel flow, which is not something that occupies most of us. Red Bull claims that the sensor was faulty and will appeal. The FIA Stewards seem like they stand on firm ground, but I doubt if they can muster as much technical expertise as Red Bull and an appeal will be argued in an FIA court. We may have the result of the race some weeks from now and Bernie wonders why the TV ratings are falling.
The first race of a new formula and F1 is in its default position of protest and lawyers.
To say that sound was disappointing was to use understatement, it was like watching a Fred Astaire movie in mute mode. When the cars entered the pitlane, they resembled elderly diesel taxis with dodgy big ends. Be thankful for that, there once was a move to have cars powered only by battery in the pitlane.
Bernie is said to be seeking to redress the issue, but it is difficult to see how this could be achieved without a major technical rule change which only the FIA can make having consulted with its various subcommittees. As we know, these are all people who put the good of the sport before any advantage they may have found.
To put engineers in charge of drafting new regulations is like putting studio technicians in charge of a movie. Their job is to deliver what the director requires, they do not write the script.
I have no idea what Bernie thinks he can do. Maybe put a bit of cardboard so it rubs against the wheel spokes. Maybe use some of the battery power to transmit racing noises.
He has made a commitment and I am not sure that it is one he can achieve.
The organisers of the Australian GP are reported to have lawyers combing their contract to see if there has been a breach since sound has always been an implied part of the F1 experience.
You used to be able to buy a 45 rpm vinyl record of a V16 BRM revving up. For the complete experience, you would put it on your turntable and heat a sheet of metal on which you would drip Castrol 'R'.
Noise is important as the FIA will discover once Formula E gets under way, and implodes, leaving a lot of people out of pocket. Formula E will fail because we are tuned to hearing the grunt of an engine and that gives us important clues. We cannot visually discern speed with any accuracy above 27 mph, which is the maximum speed a human can run. This is undisputed science.
We are told of the enormous benefits of electrical cars, but we don't watch races to be educated in some future technology. We watch motor racing because we enjoy it. Even if we only watch on TV, we are choosing to commit time to that and not to any other activity.
The backers of Formula E talk about today's teenagers being prepared to think differently. They could have tried distributing a silent X-box racing game to see what the reaction would be.
Even before the lights turned green in Melbourne, I believe a record was set with three cars starting from the pit lane due to mechanical malfunction. Boffins are hard at work to ensure improvements and I have no doubt that the position will change within a few races. Some things we are stuck with, however and one is confusion.
Towards the end of the race it looked like Magnussen might make a challenge on Ricciardo, accord to the BBC commentary. Apparently, he was building up his battery power, though that was only a guess since we had no hard information. On-screen technical data was absent.
The guess proved to be wrong though it did add a little interest to what had become a procession.
I have been following motor racing for 55 years and I am confused. Think about the guy down the pub watching the race on TV, a casual viewer who might have got hooked had there been more action, more sound and fury.
Sound helps us to gauge speed, we need to hear the power being put down. Sound is a fundamental part of the motor racing experience.
Renault had a party trick with its V8 F1 engine. The unit was so responsive that it could be programmed to play tunes. I have heard one play the French and British national anthems. The current engine could imitate a trawler in distress.
The FIA has screwed up, it has made complicated what is a simple sport. Commentators and journalist have latched on saying that the changes are the most radical 'in a generation'. Feed them a snappy slogan, they will repeat it. They are wrong; the changes are the most radical ever. This is no mere pedantic point; saying that the rules are the most radical in a generation suggests that there has been a precedent, when there has not.
The first turbo engine arrived in 1977, but it was not until 1984 that we had an all-turbo grid.
The 2014 rules are the most radical changes ever. The FIA, through its technical sub-committees, is responsible for those changes and also responsible for the fact that it did not understand the implications of those changes.
The FIA does not understand that Formula One has never been about mainstream technical innovation, sports car racing has dealt with that very well and continues to do so.
We are stuck with a formula which many did not want because the thinking behind it is woolly. Motor racing is not alone in its use of fossil fuels; horses do not walk to a race meeting. People use cars, planes, trains and buses to see a football or a cricket match. Care to calculate the carbon footprint of the Superbowl?
We do not have to apologise for motor racing simply because it uses a tiny amount of fossil fuel at its centre.
By all means explore new systems of delivering power, it is what will make sports car racing so interesting this year.
It is clear that we must never again allow engineers near the rule-making process. Their job is to make things happen, not to formulate the show.
Mike subsequently added:
One thing that has occurred to me. The FIA Stewards and Red Bull were in contact over at least 48 hours and during the race. It was five hours after the race, when everyone had gone home, that Ricciardo's disqualification was announced.
1n 1976 I was a spectator at Brands Hatch when it was announced that James Hunt would not be allowed to take the re-start having been involved in a first corner shunt not of his doing. The crowd persuaded the authorities that they were wrong. James won on the day but was stripped of the win later.
Despite what has since been written, I do not think that there was any real danger of violence at Brands Hatch. The crowd booed and the odd bottle was thrown on the track, but there was no willingness to climb the fences. Had James not been allowed to start the race, I suspect there might have been a mass exodus.
It was 1976, the year of the Great Heatwave. I was packed in at Clearways, soaked in sweat, hardly able to move and unable to access additional refreshment. Had Hunt not started, there would have been no reason for me to stay.
It is my firm belief that the stewards that day used, and exaggerated, discontent to postpone judgement to an FIA court.
Disqualifying Ricciardo must have been in the mind of the stewards during the race, and they had the evidence to black flag him. As some Australian readers have told me, they were so disenchanted with the racing that they would have left were it not for their man driving so brilliantly in his first race with a top team.
Had Daniel been black flagged, there might have been what, to a promoter, is the ugliest of scenes: paying customers voting with their feet.
If you thought that the sound of the cars on a street circuit like Melbourne was bad, wait until they hit the wide open space of Silverstone.
Learn more about Mike and check out his previous features, here