Double file restarts vs DRS
Sunday saw the start of both the F1 and Indycar seasons, with both races throwing up their share of interest if not out and out excitement.
Within only a few laps I was getting quite bored with the new overtaking ‘aids’ available to the F1 drivers. KERS in its first inception was a bit of a damp squib and served to prevent passes rather than aid them, and its reintroduction has thus far done nothing to convince me otherwise.
However it was DRS which completely baffled me. What is the point of the system if it is only allowed on a tiny portion of the circuit and only when the drivers were within a second of each other? Surely it should either be available totally at the drivers’ discretion (the loss of traction as drivers deployed it in qualifying was entertaining) or outlawed. The halfway house approach just gives the spectator one more thing to consider in amidst pit stop strategy, KERS, tyres etc. I just want to see drivers racing, and don’t care if they are in a DRS window, or have sufficient KERS left on any given lap.
In the event the much vaunted overtaking bonanza didn’t happen, and I would be astonished if the race positions would have differed at all if KERS and DRS had not been available to the drivers.
Over in the US they have certainly hit on an innovation that spices up the race – double file (i.e. side by side) restarts. This was introduced at St Petersberg on Sunday and led to a manic first 20 laps of the race. Indycar races have long had side by side rolling race starts and on Sunday this led to chaos as several drivers lunged up the inside to find there wasn’t much grip off line and on the paint. The end result was Marco Andretti upside down and several drivers out of the race.
This led to a safety car and the first double file restart, which led to another pile up and another restart. Only on about the 4th restart did the field get through without driving into each other, but by this point with a much shuffled pack. The remainder of the race was exactly what you’d expect from a spec series on a street circuit with no overtaking opportunities – cars running closely together but unable to get through. On balance however I enjoyed it more than the action from Albert Park.
The double file restart proved highly unpopular with the drivers who disliked the incidents and jostling for position. However I felt the drivers complaints were a little over the top. Firstly – crashing is discretionary, all the incidents were as far as I could tell, caused more by drivers launching up the inside where there was no grip rather than any particular factors of them running closely together. Surely the team managers could have told their charges not to do anything that will compromise finishing the race. Secondly St Petersberg is probably an exceptional case in that it is a circuit where it tough to overtake, for most drivers the restart was the sole opportunity to move up the order.
Watching the race at home I loved the new restart format, it spiced up the racing, gave the fans multiple ‘first corners’ throughout the event, and created some great action. If F1 is serious about cost cutting and improving the show, then side by side restarts after a safety car could be an answer to both elements (minus the wrecked cars). It would give the fans more action, it would shake up the race order, and it would create the side by side racing we all want to see.
