NewsOnF1 - Forced overtaking

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Hi Heretic,

Great work. Pretty good journalism. So Please keep it up.(How are you going to do it, David?)
There are a couple a issues which I would like to raise. First on the San Marino GP (which seem to have escaped comment) and second on the great overtaking debate.

1. Michael S. on No2 position on the grid was angled to the right for the start.
2. Any clown (therefore - we can assume Michael too) would know that a touch of left steer on the take-off would trigger wheel-spin and a dramatic move to the left on the track. The reflexes of said driver can certainly be relied on to ensure that the outcome of this wheel-spin could be controlled enough to achieve any desired objective.
3. The objective in this case was to get in David Coulthard's way and block his launch to the first corner so that No2 Ferrari could serve as a buffer.
4. Also please bear in mind that Ferrari, according to many news reports, have been concentrating on grid starts at Fiorano. They usually succeed in achieveing what they practice.
5. Note that Rubens B got so enthusiastic that he very nearly overtook Michael because Michael had done such a good job. (Inboard camera at the start in Rubens car). Rubens had to back off real smart to get Michael back in position.

With David suitable blocked by Rubens, Michael stood no risk while he was chasing Mika H. and Ferrari were in a strong position to pull off their very successful pit stop strategy suitably assisted by another of Michael's brilliant drives.

Two sad observations regarding this move on the starting grid. a) If David C. was not such a gentleman and had latched on to Michael's gearbox and thus left Rubens completely to his own devices the strategy may not have succeeded (in fact I suspect Rubens would have been in the kitty litter) and b) with all of this performance Ralf was forced into a terrible situation which cost him (and Williams) dearly.

Second issue :
Is there no way that the FIA can be provoked into ruling on a "forced overtaking" rule. It was my understanding that this was in practice in some race (s ?) during 1999 but I was probably mistaken. The rule I would suggest (and this can be invoked by the chief marshall fairly easily using all the modern TV coverage available) is :
"Any driver who is closely followed by another driver for 2 laps or the major part thereof (commencing at the starting grid) will be shown a waved blue flag which means that the driver in question must let the following driver overtake within the next three marshall points." This should not provoke a see-saw effect too often (although it will of course happen at some time or other).
This should break up the procession effect very satisfactorily. It should not be a problem to the track marshalls who a re following the normal rule of waving the blue flag if the driver will be able to overtake before or by the next marshall point, because the decree will come from the chief marshall.

All the very best for what is looking like a fabulous 2000 season,

Ian M.

The Heretic replies:

Hi Ian,

Thanks for your mail. You obviously know the sport.

On the issues that you raised:

I would not put it past Schumacher to be devious enough to want to do what you suggested but I think it is unlikely that he did on this occasion for the following reasons:

1. Steering while your back tyres are on fire in a modern F1 car is hard to do when you have enough speed up for the aerodynamics to work. It is pretty much impossible when you have no downforce. The risk of doing a doughnut is just too high! You often see that, when drivers had spun and are pointing in the wrong direction, they do a big wheelie to effect a U-turn. But they always stop after the U-turn and take off more moderately which costs time. If they did not, chances are that they would do a few 360s before they get it under control.

2. I do not think Schumacher would trust Coulthard. On several occasions Coulthard has demonstrated that he is quite prepared to touch to gain track position and I believe that Schumacher would realise that he should not mess with David.

3. Spinning your wheels that much at the start is guaranteed to give a very slow start& I am surprised, and I think Schumacher is too, that he did not lose any positions - he was very lucky.

4. Barrichello was very pedestrian the whole weekend. He was not holding Coulthard back that far deliberately. He just could not go fast enough to stay in touch with the leaders.

I suspect that Schumacher angled across the track deliberately to get on the clean, well used, approach into the corner as fast as possible as the dirty side that he was on does not afford as much grip.

Ferrari, or possibly Schumacher, has a serious starting problem. It is strange that he can be so good at all other aspects of the race but has never had a great record at starts (although I cannot remember this being a problem at Benetton, hence the possibility that it could be the Ferrari).

I am surprised that Barrichello did not make it to the first corner in front of him. Who knows, maybe there are team orders already.

I agree that David drove very sensibly as he certainly could have shafted several at the start and I absolutely agree, had Ralf not been blocked he could have stormed up to second place.

There are a lot of other issues. The rumour that one team had the ability to hack into the other team's radio control - could explain Hakkinen's sudden loss of engine which worked faultlessly after resetting. I am not saying it is true but it could happen.

The issue you raised on overtaking is a hard one. F1 racing is a combination of driver and constructor skill. One of the skills practiced over the years is the ability to make your car wide and keep other drivers behind you. Now, when I was racing (which is way back in the late 60's/early 70's) there was no significant rubber dust or rubber marble deposit so most of the track gave reasonable grip and it was much more difficult to keep another driver behind you. Add to that the modern aerodynamic grip and we are talking about an almost insurmountable problem.

The way I see it the problem comes in four parts:

1. Modern aerodynamic grip almost dictates the optimum position on the track at all times. Any deviation from this "line" comes with a penalty. Overtaking means that one has to leave this fastest line while going faster than the car you are competing with - a contradiction in terms.

2. Modern aerodynamic grip works best in clear air and deteriorates dramatically the closer you get to the car in front of you. To overtake you have to be close. Being close means your car is unstable on corners and prone to much more wheel spin on acceleration, making it impossible to accelerate faster than the car in front of you. So, how can you overtake?

3. The modern F1 car is almost fully optimised. The difference between teams is small and very rarely do you se a specific car with an advantage over its adversaries in a specific stage in the race. If all cars are the same it creates a procession like in Formula Ford. Qualifying position becomes everything.

4. Modern race tracks have relatively short straights, for safety reasons. There is no opportunity to get off the racing line and use superior power to overtake before the next corner. The old trick of slipstreaming to gain speed does not work and is very high risk as most of the grip is gone. So you are forced to stay on the clean bit and hope the car in front makes a mistake.
The solution, as I see it, is to give them slicks back, with controlled compounds, and to outlaw outboard wings.
But, I am just an amateur, and I am sure that the FIA is battling with the problem, and they know much more.
In one of the future issues I want to raise the issue of safety. Schumacher has already highlighted the fact that wheel mounting can throw a car into the crowd but I believe the issue is more fundamental. Allow a configuration that relies on wings to be controllable, and therefore safe, then place those wings in a position where they are the first to break off if two cars touch and someone is going to die eventually.

Thank you for your custom and support - and keep the debate going!

The Heretic