Here's a question:
During qualifying, in 2 of the 3 races, Vettel has been much much faster than anybody else on the grid. Yet, in both those races, he hasn't been nearly as far ahead in the race. Why is this?
I'm guessing that DRS and the tyres can explain almost all of it,
They have so much more grip/downforce than anyone else that they can use the DRS earlier in the corner during qualifying so they're using it longer and getting higher speeds between corners than they can manage during the race,
And tyres because basically race pace = tyre conservation pace, even webber who had the benefit of new softs on a relatively light car only managed a 1:38, compared to a 1:33 in qualifying, 5 seconds slower is massive, everyone else was 1:40 or slower, 6-7 seconds
I also think that much like last year for whatever reason the Red Bull works a lot better on low fuel than the McLaren, conversely during a race this means the McLaren can be that little bit closer just due to that before getting to the above DRS/Tyres stuff...
Not at all. It doesn't matter if he pushed the button or not. The system shouldn't have been armed in the first place. He should be able to press the system all day long and it doesn't move unless it's armed.
Where it was shown working and how it was working would have been a hinderance rather than an aid.
How can DRS opening on a straight be classed as a hindrance, more speed = bad?
And end up with a scenario we had before where customer teams where always a year or so behind the full works teams?
You would not have the scenario you have now with Renault being pounded by Red Bull or Mercedes getting beat by anyone who wants to run one if they started throwing money at it again.
Initially I was against an engine freeze but it's undeniable that it's provided the chance for customer teams to actually win titles and races are won with nearly all the cars running instead of having half the field break down.
But it hasn't quite been an engine freeze has it, it's been a phase of engine standardisation, if you're engine sucks you get to 'make changes for reliability', if not then tough. End Result = a set of engines that are in a very small range of performance/efficiency.
I do think the best option would be, as CaptainRAVE says unrestricted engine development (with fuel limit) and some form of financial limitation, although that brings the problem of actually limiting the teams/engine builders...
