Computer aids which ensure a perfect start every time in any weather conditions, negate the need for throttle control or even consign changing gear to the history books are surely to be lamented. Shortly after these driver aids first became available, they were made illegal because it was felt that they detracted from the skills rightly expected from competitors in the world's foremost single-seater formula. The fact that they make driving easier has not changed but the effectiveness of the FIA's scrutineers in detecting these devices has. It is no longer possible, claim the scrutineers, to confirm in the time allowed and with any degree of confidence the absence of these systems from a car and so the FIA decided that it had no choice but to rescind the rules that made them illegal in the first place.
One possible solution would be to include in the technical regulations a clause stating that the electronic brain of the car would be supplied to the teams by one FIA-nominated manufacturer in a sealed, tamper-proof box. The teams would not be permitted to augment this system and would therefore have a choice: either use this standard system or don't use electronics at all. The FIA would then be in a position to provide as many or as few driver aids as it saw fit. There would be very little policing involved, perhaps as little as checking that the seals on the box were intact before and after each session.
The teams and engine manufacturers would undoubtedly baulk at such a suggestion. In setting up a modern Formula One car for a circuit, software-driven engine-mapping is just as important as selecting the appropriate gear ratios and the top teams would feel, probably with some justification, that they hold a considerable advantage over smaller outfits in this area but, as has often been said in connection with rule changes, the cream always rises to the top. The emphasis would simply be skewed more towards engineering a car sufficiently well balanced and flexible to permit the driver to set it up for a given circuit.
In addition, at a time when teams are increasingly concerned about rapidly rising costs and spectators and legislators alike are lamenting the lack of overtaking, the imposition of a standard electronic system would have a couple of useful implications. Firstly, by eliminating the need for each team to develop its own processing unit and instead being asked to contribute to the cost of a single, standard unit, the cost per team would be substantially reduced. Secondly, by enabling the FIA to ensure that no team is using illegal electronics, driver aids such as automatic (and even semi-automatic) gearboxes and traction control could once again be outlawed, meaning that minor driver errors like missed gears (remember those?) and poor throttle control would make a reappearance in races and overtaking would be easier. A fast lap would have more to do with driver skill than the quality of the software installed in the car. And that would have to be good news. |
