September 12, 2008

Axis of Oversteer to solve all F1 stewards issues.


After reading all manner of internet petitions and venomous opinion pieces mostly from British fanboy sites who condemn the FIA but conveniently forget episodes such Hamilton getting plucked by a crane after making a mistake last year, we at Axis have had enough and will now set the record straight for all!....

Being fair, we recognize that the present system is broken. 

That the stewards correctly recognized Hamilton's infraction at Spa was entirely the result of chance. Presently stewards are chosen though an bizarre process which places more emphasis on their lack of direct connection with manufacturers than their qualifications. In essence the FIA tries to be politically correct. This is the wrong approach.
With all due respect to our African readers, you cannot have a steward from Zambia who also happens not to have a driver's license. And with all due respect to our older readers, stewards in their 80's with failing eyesight should not qualify either.

What Axis proposes is a quite simple two pronged approach:

Stewards are to be the same for the whole season and referee every race.  The current formula of three stewards plus a race director could be kept but they would be nominated as such.

  1. An FIA nomination.
  2. A manufacturer/team nomination.
  3. An ex driver nominated by the Grand Prix Drivers Association.
  4. These position should be renominated every year.

The ex driver figure is key but by an "ex driver" we don't mean a Jackie Stewart or even a Niki Lauda, we mean someone who has experience with something close to current cars. Every relevant driver on record correctly recognized Hamilton had gained an advantage even if they may not have agreed with the penalty given.


Chicanes should be constructed so that there is an built in penalty for cutting them.    If there had been gravel in Spa we would not have had the problems we had.   If not gravel, perhaps some soft barriers with the same philosophy as the ones on the escape road of the first chicane at Monza.   This way a risky passing maneuver might pay off but could also penalize you if you blow it.  Something like you see in the Sebastian Bourdais clip below.

Simple no?  Now that's a petition worth starting not one wanting flawed rules to work only in your favor.  
Direct all hate mail to fearlessfreep@stfu.com


Chicanes with built in penalties from Axis Video on Vimeo.

3 comments:

  1. Didn't you see Coulthard eject one of those stupid styrofoam "obstacles?"

    ReplyDelete
  2. If Coulthard's not ejecting an actual car or human being into the bushes, we're not paying much attention.

    -Freep

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ahh.. can't get enough of the pre-pubescent Hamilton fanboys...

    ReplyDelete

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