+1-friggin-thousand!..... Jim Hall..... The problem now is what is "within the rules"? - The very best have always "pushed / bent" said rules - It's motorsport, damnit..... RB, it appears, offered to define "within the rules" for 'em a year back, and they told him to take a hike......
Forgive me for being so slow, please show me where you tried. If you haven't tried, please, explain. What does facial hair have to do with anything? Or is it you really can't explain such an off the cuff comment? Looking forward to your direct reply to my question. Thanks
The moveable barge boards were illegal (Ferrari). The diffusers will be legal (Brawn). Everybody knows one of the secrets to winning in F1 is interpretting the regs in such a way as it gives you an edge (unless you are Ferrari). I hope they are found legal...good for the sport and the world economy...SF will have to spend $30M (E$20M) to catch up.
...ok Ron, when a 'joke' has to be explained, it loses some of its intended effect. But, in the interest of good relations, I was referring to your original comment that suggested that my comment was the product of a 'troll'....I then good naturedly suggested that YOUR comment couldn't be 'trusted'....referring to the picture of you (I assume it's you!) in your avatar picture. The little happy smiley face after my comment was put there to show you that I meant it in good humour. Sometimes these things don't translate. Certainly didn't mean to confuse or offend. Best wishes.... ps. the comment regarding facial hair is an anglo saxon joke meaning that someone who 'hides' their face (behind facial hair) is someone you can't trust.
My apology. MY mistake. I had intended the term troll to apply to someone else, to remain nameless, yet obvious, not to you. Very sorry for the misunderstanding. Thank you for the explanation. And yes, that is me in the avatar (the onw with the dark hair) and the facial is real. The beard got burnt off in a fiery car accident two years ago. Again, sorry.
..no, apology not necessary. It was my original comment that was not clear, and led to the confusion. I try to mix my serious comments with a bit of humour, but sometimes it doesn't quite read the way I intended it. All the best. Andrew
Brawn is the perfect Cinderella story so I doubt they would take that away but I've been surprised before. It's really made for an interesting season. Ferrari is too good with too many resources. They will catch up.
I voted legal but don't know what FIA will do. What about Red Bull? They don't have the double decker diffuser yet are fighting at the front of the pack. The others should try to catch up. Maybe the rules weren't clear enough and the intention of the rule changes is not served with the DD diffusers so they should go, but please not this season yet.
Adrian Newey has made a very nice car for Red Bull. F1 Technical Net showed a couple of design tweeks, including a small vent on the back of the dorsal fin, that clean up the airflow.
why will making it illegal prevent the title from being wrapped up quickly? the other teams will come up with their own new diffuser in short order.
We are all assuming Ferrrari, and the rest fell asleep at the switch, but is it not possible that the design was considered, then rejected because it lived in a grey area of the rules. If it were later deemed to be illegal, the resource needed to rectify would be huge, and, with the flexi-floor still fresh, they decided to be cautious. It strikes me as strange, that as soon as the Brawn turned its first fast lap, Massa was already saying something like " i'm not an engineer, so i dont know if that car is legal". Since no other part of the brawn has been questioned, we could assume that he was referring to the diffuser, but, how did he already know where to look?
From a cost standpoint, it would have to be declared legal. If they declare it ILLEGAL, then Brawn, Toyota and Williams necessarily must change their cars to remove it at a large cost. If they declare it LEGAL, nobody has to change anything. If some teams CHOOSE to spend $$$ to match the innovations of the others, they are free to do so. But if it's declared legal, then it's not much different than the non-rotating wheel hubs. IIRC they first showed up on Ferrari or maybe it was McLaren... but all the teams run them now. If the diffusers are declared legal, it's no different than the hubs... imagine if the other 9 teams went to the FIA and complained about the wheel hubs because, despite them being legal, they felt it would be too expensive for them to develop and be fast, so they wanted them to be made illegal.
The purpose of the new rules need to be taken into account-if the purpose was to generate less aero downforce, which apparently they were, then the new diffusers are illegal when taken in that context. However we are dealing with the FIA who preach cost cutting while wanting to introduce new expensive technology like KERS and limited test time. In addition, no matter what the ruling, teams will spend big $$$ redesigning their diffusers and will need testing time to properly develop them. NASCAR is starting to make sense now....
"Theres no crying in Baseball !...." F1, Well maybe..... Old school, look at the rule book and see what others don't, envision what will suffice the written word. Come on, ya got snookered, move on.... May take awhile with no computation fluid dynamics, or wind tunnel, or track testing. If they suddenly show up and run I'd want to see their timesheets at the shop and search there computers to see how they did it so fast.... copied from photographs? Not likely when they spend 6 months on winglets and barge boards..... Oh well.
In the event that the FIA stays true to form and makes the wrong decision, here is what the championship will look like if the diffuser teams are thrown out of the first 2 races: Driver points: 1. Alonso - 11.5 2. Heidfeld - 9 3. Buemi - 8 Barrichello - 8 5. Webber - 6 6. Sutil - 5 7. Fisichella - 3 Hamilton - 3 9. Massa - 2.5 10. Vettel - 1 Piquet - 1 11. Raikkonen - 0.5 Constructor Points: 1. Torro Rosso - 16 2. Renault - 12.5 3. BMW - 9 4. Force India - 8 5. Red Bull - 7 6. Ferrari - 3 McLaren - 3
Gotta love it. If you're going to do it, go big. http://www.racecar-engineering.com/news/people/315266/f1-diffuser-protest-rejected-by-malaysian-grand-prix-stewards.html Good write up on the whole diffuser discussion HERE
Interesting. So since it won't particularly benefit Ferrari we can probably assume FIA will keep the diffuser legal.
Not a good write up at all. We (and the teams protesting) already know and accept that the diffusers are technically legal. That article only covers that part of the discussion, which didn't really need an outside expert opinion. Although it is interesting to see the technical details explained, the discussion and the protest revolves around the spirit or intent of the regulation, not the letter. For what it is, the article is great, but it does nothing to address the larger discussion.
