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F1 analysis: Bahrain GP proved F1 revamp is not all bad

F1 analysis: Bahrain GP proved F1 revamp is not all bad

The critics of Formula One 2014 with its litany of rule changes have been multifarious, the great and good lining up to bemoan the revamped sport.

Bernie Ecclestone had called the F1 technical facelift “unacceptable” to fans while Ferrari chairman Luca di Montezemolo had likened the current crop of drivers to “taxi drivers” and said quite simply that “this is not F1”.

However, the 57 laps of the Bahrain Grand Prix were F1 in this day and age at its very finest, and rather laughed in the face of such sceptics.

The reality is that for all their experience, Ecclestone and di Montezemolo would be hard pressed to think of a more entertaining race in recent memory.

Yes, one dominant team exists currently in the sport but any fears that Lewis Hamilton might run away with the championship after his performance last weekend subsided with reassuring speed as he was involved in one of the great race tussles with teammate Nico Rosberg.

At times it was racing at its purest, the pair chopping and changing the lead early on, then tactics came into play with their tyre calls before the safety car looked to have put paid to Hamilton’s race chances.

Admittedly, he had the on-track advantage but his team-mate and friend was on the quicker rubber, and Hamilton defied the odds to keep him back.

It took Hamilton equal, on 24 career Grand Prix victories, with the great Juan Manuel Fangio. It’s the sort of racing that Fangio would surely have relished.

But it wasn’t solely about the Mercedes pair: a multitude of drives stood out – Sergio Perez’s excellent third place, Nico Hulkenberg’s rise from 11th on the grid to fifth at the chequered flag, and Daniel Ricciardo’s fourth place having started in 13th.

The complaints from the purists will persist. The No1 issue among them continues to be the noise, or rather the lack of it. It’s clearly the biggest gripe at present, and hearing the cheers from the stands rather than the roars from the engines is disturbing.

There is no longer that same sense of thrill from the engines, the 1.6 V6 engines producing more of an irritating whine than anything.

It is the one area where F1 in 2014 has truly lost its personality, but it is also the one area we’re told is being addressed. The fans want it, the teams want it and, most importantly, Ecclestone wants it.

FIA President Jean Todt has agreed the change will come. How easily, quickly and successfully that can be done is a point of conjecture.

As for the other rule changes that Ferrari and Red Bull in particular have called to be overhauled, Todt has said that will not happen in 2014. Like it or not, it’s what we’re lumped with for the next 16 races on the calendar.

But barring the fact that the cars sound rubbish, Bahrain proved that they look great and that the drivers can race brilliantly in them.

Plus, new nuances have come with these changes. The lack of noise means at times you can hear the marbles on the race track rattling around the cars as drivers go offline, a fact one ex-driver said gave viewers the most original example of the noise of being in the F1 cockpit.

Then there’s the array of onscreen delights – the percentage of fuel each driver has used and what engine recovery system they still had left on their lap.

F1 in 2014 is supposedly more confusing for the fan. Is that entirely true? Surely, isn’t there more to get your teeth into, more for the technical nerds among us to enjoy?

Ok, we don’t like change on the whole but this might not necessarily be change for the worse. Bahrain may prove an anomaly but let’s give F1 in 2014 a chance.


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