*SPOILER* Conspiracy theory or truth RE: Red Bull

This is the 4th race. It is the 3rd race that was wet. At the prior 3 races, Red Bull was very dominant, followed by Ferrari by a fair gap back, followed by McLaren a further fair gap back.

Ride height adjustment gets banned.

Supposedly, Ferrari had a mechanical system, and Red Bull had an automatic system.

Red Bull suddenly seems to have lost their speed in a big way.

And Ferrari seems to be suffering massively as well.

Coincidence?

 

While watching practice I couldn't help but notice that the McLarens when doing their low fuel runs were scraping away a LOT of the underside. That didn't change much, if any, towards the end of P2 when they were doing runs with a lot of fuel in the car. I found that to be interesting.

BTW - You say suffering but Red Bull and Ferrari were the top three spots on the grid. Since the race was under rain conditions I don't know how much you can use it as a comparison.

 

In quali they did well, but in the race they just had no speed at all... in past races the RB's were very fast. In this case, they were slow, and it wasn't down to traffic... although that played a part, they were just slow.

 

Maybe your on to something here Mike, only time will tell next race maybe.

 

Not sure what the deal is with variable ride height right now.

So far most of these races have been opportune for overtaking, and I think the reason McLaren and Hami have been doing so well in them (in passing cars) is their front-wing. Martin Brundle has said a few times that their car isn't very disturbed most of the time when following in others' wakes; their front-end does look pretty different compared to the rest of the field. MS on the other hand has said the MB is very sensitive following other cars.

Yesterday was really the first time we really saw Vettel have to follow and pass other cars. Maybe they are suffering the same way MB are, or are just average and not as good in this respect compared to McLaren.

It'll be tough to know whether the ride-height ban is the culprit in three weeks since they may just get out-developed by McLaren, Ferrari and/or MB.

Ferrari's system is legal isn't it, ie. manually adjusting during pit-stops?

 

Had it notbeen for the drive thru penalty and wrong call re tyres, then FA would have been much higher up the grid come lap 56!

 

I suppose the question would be, who's behind it and to what end?

 

Hamilton and Alonso are absolutely great at passing cars. Maybe Vettel/Webber are simply not as good? I tend to think that if Button/Massa (this is already true) had to work their way through the grid they'd be miserable.

 

The Ferrari in Alonso's hands still looked good, ride height system or not. I'm not sure what was up with Red Bull but we do need another race to two before we can draw any sort of conclusion. Yesterday's race wasn't exactly a typical race.

 

Vettel was running a low wing setting which stuffed his race if it continued raining. It was a gamble.

Webbers race was stuffed by Hamilton pushing/hitting him off the track.
Pete

 

Now go look at who was pushing Hamilton... Oh dear, Mark's own team-mate was the cause of Mark getting shoved off-track.

 

Funny how that works

 

Come on Pete, Webber is the one and has been the one and always will be the one pushing people off the track, he cannot accept someone overtaking without an accident. I used to be a Webber fan, but the guy is a moving chicane, and the fact that he is the head of the GPDA is a joke. He needed to get a race ban last year for his antics on the track. He cannot do 10% of the passing of a Hamilton or Alonso cleanly.

 

+1

 

No debate here. Webber is fast but has rhythm issues, hence he starts slow and also suffers when he is battling.

My point was everybody was cr@pping on Webbers Chinese GP race, and thus I pointed out that he was pushed off the track so hardly fair this time. He finally managed a good start but then was indecisive, but atleast he beat Vettel into that first few corners and eventually gapped him. He drove an okay race considering that his car was slow in a straight line when it was dryish because he had a wet weather setup, which if he hadn't been pushed off might have helped him, instead he lost a bunch of places.

Basically the safety car stuffed the Red Bull teams race. How Alonso got back up to 4th place I'm not sure, but heck of a drive.
Pete

 

If there was a conspiracy, then MS would have won a race by now. He is becoming a non-story.

 

+1

 

What struck me is how ugly and intentionally stunted this year's cars appear compared to say, 02 or 03 cars. However, the handicapped cars and convoluted tire rules made up for more accidents and mistakes which kept things interesting.

I have to admit I kept thinking, "I wonder what this would be like if they had no car building rules other than basics about weight and cylinders?"

 

Actually he's becoming a sad story with getting passed by a rookie who hadn't finished a GP before today.

 

I think its a bit early to dig MS's grave.
He still has the stuff but not the car.
Everyone on the grid, including the rookies, is an outstanding driver.

I WAS expecting a bit more from him in the rain but this obviously was not his race.

 

As far as the Red Bull ride height system;
It still may be possible to set the car low for the first two Q sessions.
Raise it for Full tank Q3 to get the pole, but then not able to lower it gradually during the race (as assumed) to keep the speed throughout the race.
Thus the race results prove the conspiracy.
Not just Q3 position.
Hmmmm...

 

All Red Bull's cars prove to me is they have made consistent back-of-the-pack runner Webber competitive. Odd how a great car has that affect.

 

This is the way of the future.
A quick pre set manual ride height stop or knock out a shim. Lower the car at the tire change.

 

Bring back the old Can-Am! If it fits in the box, you can run it.

In 5 years it went from 500 HP 1600 pound cars to 900 HP 1200 pound cars. Unlimited engine sizes, turbos and supers legal, unconstrained areodynamics, two seats.

Converting to Formula cars:
1) width: less than 2 meters
2) length: less than 6 meters
3) height: less than 1 meter
4) engine: unlimited
5) wheels,brakes,tires: unlimited
6) aerodynamics: unlimited (including moveable aerodymanics,...)
7) electronics: unlimited
8) hydraulics: unlimited
9) weight: unlimited
10) injury: if someone gets severly injured or worse--the team causing the incident is banned for 1 year and looses all points. This can be a spectator, steward, marshal, crew, or driver. {This is intended to cause cars to be constructed fro safety}
11) conduct: driver causing a racing incident is banned from reslts. Every contact with another vehicle is an incident, plus causing another driver to leave the road surface is an incident. {This is intended to ensure gentlemanly driving*}
12) course: the car must stay on the road surface at all times or be banned from results.

(*) in the chineese GP this weekend, Hamilton would be banned from the SC incident causing Weber to leave the road, Alonso to be banned from the dual entry to pit lane with massa, Schumacher would be banned for the pass on Petrov.

 

Yes, but SV pushed LH into MW causing MW to leave the track. So shouldn't it only be SV that is banned?

Alonso had 2 wheels on the track during his pit entrance pass and per the sporting regs, it seems to be fine.