Button: The refuelling ban may produce more overtaking
One of the biggest changes to the rules for the 2010 season has been the removal of refuelling during a Grand Prix. Fuel strategy has been one of the key aspects of Formula One racing in previous years however 2010 will see cars having to start with enough petrol on-board to finish the race.
Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button appear to have differing views when it comes to the refuelling ban. Alonso has previously stated that he believes that without refuelling strategy, races will be a foregone conclusion with drivers who fail to qualify in the top three spots left with little opportunity to win the race.
However Jenson Button disagrees. Instead, he believes the higher tyre wear at the start of the race will be crucial and will allow there to be a significant enough speed differential to produce overtaking.
“I don’t agree with Alonso,” Button commented at McLaren’s launch. “I think there will still be passing, don’t forget we still have the tyre stops and new tyres could be worth two seconds a lap.”
Tim Goss, chief engineer at McLaren, agrees with Button.
“It could make the show significantly better, yes,” Goss said. “Previously, you knew when everyone was going to stop and refuel, so each team based their strategy decisions on overtaking cars during the pit stops.
“What’s changed for this year is that we won’t know when people are going to stop. The only thing affecting drivers’ mandatory stops now is that they have to run both the option and prime tyre, so the strategy choices will be less predictable and will become a little more complicated.
“Races could be one or two stints with both early and late stops for tyres. It will definitely make the racing more challenging and interesting – and, hopefully, it will promote more on-track overtaking and less overtaking during the pit stops.”
Popularity: 1% [?]
Subscribe and have the day's top stories delivered directly to your inbox - free!
Ratty | Feb 6, 2010 | Reply
Not at all sure how I feel about this change for two reasons:
Firsly I think it’s false to view tyre-stop strategy as a replacement for fuel-stop strategy. Fuel strategy was about making fairly absolute decisions about the future – if you decided to fuel for another 20 laps then you sure as anything came in after 20 or maybe 21 or 22 laps if you were prepared to risk driving on vapour. This made for a lot of strategic thinking as amply demonstrated in the past by Schumacher and Ross Brawn – in fact in some races you suspected they had sneaked fuel monitors in the other team’s cars as they got these decisions so right. With tyres there’s more scope to keep pushing – it’s less of an absolute strategic decision and brings in more of an element of luck.
Secondly I am a little concerned about the safety aspect. As I said above, you couldn’t decide to keep going when you were out of fuel because running out would be disastrous so no one really risked it. This change is going to encourage drivers to keep going with some pretty damn dodgy tyres for strategic reasons. Is this safe and is it fair that safety related decisions like these are going to become more prominent aspects of the ‘game’ of Formula 1? I guess time will tell and I will be watching this season with interest to see if this is an improvement, or a really bad and dangerous decision. In fact if there is an element of strategy here, could it be that the second driver just might have to shrug and apologise as their worn types resulted in them ‘accidentally’ taking out the other team’s driver as they are being lapped?