MOTOR SPORT/FORMULA ONE SEASON PREVIEW 2011:AFTER AN aborted start in Bahrain two weeks ago, Formula One will finally unveil its latest version of the sport in Melbourne on Sunday, this year banking on a purposely volatile blend of unpredictable and fragile new tyres and a raft of speed-boosting car changes to heighten the spectators' experience, if not the drivers' one.
In recent years Formula One has developed into the software development house of global sport. Not for it a tried and tested system that provides a stable environment. Each year, Formula One launches a new version of its rules, forever promising its latest iteration will provide a brighter, better, faster experience.
This year sees the arrival of the triple threat of fragile tyres designed to promote overtaking, the return of the power-boosting KERS system, and the all-new plaything of a movable rear wing, which, when activated by the driver, lowers downforce and gives the car a brief, albeit potentially destabilising, burst of speed.
Whether any of these variables add to the spectacle, which, in its quieter moments, has the feel of a noisy afternoon in an otherwise sleepy library but which, at its best, requires no such gimcrack reinventions, is debatable, especially in a sport in which the sharp end of the action is likely to remain largely unchanged.
Throughout winter testing, it has, predictably, been Red Bull Racing and defending champion Sebastian Vettel that have looked strongest. In recent seasons the team has possessed pace in abundance but at the expense of reliability. The lessons appear to have been learned. This year’s model has cruised through the winter programme, Red Bull Racing only being eclipsed on test miles by Ferrari.
Even more worrying for rivals is that the new-found reliability has not seemed to come at the expense of any pace.
Vettel, too, is in confident mood, the champion admitting to being a stronger, wiser driver following a 2010 season in which he was criticised, not just for a series of errors at key moments – such as a race-ending accident in Belgium – but also for enjoying his “golden child” status within Red Bull a little too much.
“There were points last season when I received a lot of criticism, sometimes right and sometimes wrong,” he admitted. “But it was important that from that I learned my lesson, which was going back to basics, just jumping in the car and enjoying what you do. Otherwise it’s a waste of time.
“At some stages last year I was feeling very tired and I needed a rest. I’ve had that rest and crossed that point now and I’m really looking forward to it again.”
It’s not hard to see why. Looking in his rear-view mirrors, Vettel is likely to see few real rivals queuing up to prevent him becoming the youngest back-to-back title winner in the sport’s history.
Team-mate Mark Webber is the obvious choice of opponent and while the Australian occasionally eclipsed Vettel last season, it was in qualifying that Vettel won the war – the champion outqualifying his team-mate 13 to six last season. Unless 34-year-old Webber finds the crucial extra tenth in qualifying the number-two status he railed against at the end of the Silverstone race last year will begin to look justified.
Outside his team, Vettel would be hard-pushed to identify an outfit, apart from Ferrari, that has made the great leap in the off-season. McLaren have gone backwards, pursuing a variety of trick engineering gimmicks to the exclusion of reliability and pace, leaving Lewis Hamilton to last week clutch at the straw of the traditionally chaotic nature of the Melbourne race.
“We can’t hide the fact testing has been tougher than we expected: our test mileage hasn’t been as high as that of our rivals, nor have we had the outright pace of the fastest cars,” he said. “Nevertheless, we go to Melbourne ready for battle. Some teams are extremely well prepared but that can sometimes count for little in the somewhat chaotic opening races, where it’s vital just to take points home.”
McLaren’s place at the top table, in the short term, could be taken by Mercedes. While the team looked lost in the early stages of winter testing, a late burst of updates vaulted Michael Schumacher to the top of the timesheets at the final test in Barcelona, a crucial turnaround for the seven-time champion, who, after a lacklustre return to the sport last year, has staked all on this new, more Schumacher-friendly Mercedes being a more realistic indicator of how viable his comeback is.
Looming largest though will be Ferrari and Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard was far and away Formula One’s finest driver last year, dragging exceptional results from a car that was always at a pace disadvantage to the Red Bulls. That he lost the title at the 11th hour was more down to Ferrari blinking under pressure at the final round rather than any deficiency on the Spaniard’s part.
On the strength of test results, the new Ferrari looks to be giving little away to Red Bull, especially over a race distance. It has been proved bullet-proof reliable too and it is that solidity that most worries Vettel’s team.
“People are under-estimating where Ferrari are and we hope we are somewhere near competitive,” Red Bull Racing team boss Christian Horner said. “There’s a few teams that have shown good form in testing, Mercedes have taken a step. It’s difficult to say where McLaren are; one thing’s for sure, they will at some point emerge near the front of the field. I think it’s doubtful that you will see one team dominate and run away with the first five races.”
Which brings us back to the variables. If anything will upset the balance of power it is the tyres. New supplier Pirelli has been specifically tasked by the FIA to do what is unthinkable for such a firm – build weak tyres. As such, the in-built fragility will favour some drivers. Those who manage tyre wear well, whose sympathetic driving style allows them to nurse ailing tyres longer than others – such as Jenson Buttons at McLaren – will vault up the order, at the expense of rivals who work their tyres hard, such as Alonso and Hamilton, who favour a harder-braking “point and squirt” style.
Couple that with the trick of balancing the power surges afforded by KERS and the movable rear wing and Formula One’s tinkering with the software may yet prove the key to a season when the established norms of winter testing – that victorious teams of the recent past invariably carry their advantage through by virtue of having fewer problems to solve in development – are regularly upset.
As the teams prepare for the first qualifying session of the season this afternoon, the form guide says the momentum remains forcefully with Vettel. But, as the new rules finally kick into active gear this afternoon, there may yet be some kinks in the road ahead.
Australian Grand Prix
Albert Park, Melbourne
Friday, March 25th – Practice one: 1.30am-3am; Practice two: 5.30am-7am.
Saturday, March 26th – Practice three: 3am-4am; Qualifying: 6am-7am.
Sunday, March 27th – Race: 7am.
What's new for 2011
Tyres
Out go built-to-last Bridgestones and in come perilous Pirellis. The Italian company has followed FIA orders to make the tyres extremely fragile in a bid to increase unpredictability as drivers battle varying grip levels
KERS
The Kinetic Energy Recovery System is back and will give drivers a significant boost of 80bhp for about six seconds per lap. All teams bar Team Lotus, HRT and Virgin will use it this season. In conjunction with the movable rear wing, it could provide some spectacular passing moves.
Rear Wing
The rear wing is now movable, meaning the driver pushes a button and the wing opens, reducing drag and downforce and giving a 10-12km/h speed boost. It will only be available when drivers are within one second of the car in front and only in designated areas of the track.
Indian GP
The sub-continent makes its bow in the F1 calendar. The race, in New Delhi, is scheduled for October 30th. Construction is said to be on schedule, but the same was said of Korea last year, where the track was so new that rain on race day caused massive delays.
Team orders
They're back. After last year's German Grand Prix in which Felipe Massa pulled over to hand team-mate Fernando Alonso victory, rule 39.1 of the sporting regulations, which bans such team orders, has been scrapped. Expect many more "Fernando is faster than you" moments.
107 per cent rule
Not used since 2002, this rule, which stipulates that race cars must have lapped in qualifying within 107 per cent of the pole-winning time, is back. A reaction to the slow pace of some newcomers last year. Virgin Racing and Hispania Racing are already muttering about not making the grade in the early races.
Double Diffuser Ban
The engineering tweak first introduced in 2009 and which gave Brawn GP so much of its competitiveness that year, has been banned, thus reducing all cars' aerodynamic grip. The team will have attempted to claw back the downforce in other areas of their designs.
