A purist no more - One F1 fan looks at the 2011 Chinese GP

A purist no more

The Chinese Grand Prix was a fantastic race. As soon Lewis crossed the finishing line, I emailed a friend saying: "That's the best race I have seen in a VERY LONG time". It really had everything you could wish for.

I must admit my love affair with F1 has waned in recent years although my interest was piqued with Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button arriving on the scene. The reason why I fell out of love? Well, the races were, to be honest, pretty boring. The winner was nearly always going to be whoever qualified number one and who had the most efficient refuelling pitstops. It had become processional and it was not exciting. It seemed that overtaking the back markers was about the only time you saw cars pass each other, certainly in the top six anyway.

I like to think I have always been a bit of an F1 purist. I want the most skilful driver to win. Of course, with all the cutting edge vehicle technology in F1, that often does not happen. Not that I demean the abilities of these drivers, they are incredibly talented and those at the very top have an unbelievable gift to make a car do what they want at awesome speeds.

So what has changed? Why have we suddenly witnessed such a dramatic race? The introduction of three new elements this year has almost turned things on their head and reminded me of the heady days of Prost battling Senna and Hill wheel to wheel with Schumacher.

(Personal aside - My absolute favourite car of all time was the black and gold JPS Lotus of Nigel Mansell. I made it in airfix (sadly no more and I bet it would be worth a bit now) and I even had it as a scalextrix car! I feel very nostalgic to see Lotus Renault back this year in those famous colours).

This year's introduction of the DRS, KERS and the Pirelli tyres have forced the teams to go back to the strategy drawing board. When I first read about these innovations, the purist in me was not happy, this was going to make F1 even more contrived I thought. Humble Pie is now being eaten in the Hutton household. It's fantastic and I want more of this type of racing this season.

The teams are still trying to work out the best strategies for these new rules and whilst they have all had an effect, I think the tyres is the most interesting. Whoever wanted the Pirellis to degrade significantly quicker than previous years deserves a knighthood for services to F1 racing. The drama of watching Hamilton on much fresher tyres reel in Vettel who was clearly struggling with grip was brilliant. To see Webber running a "reverse strategy" and scything his way through the field was wonderful.

I started writing this article thinking I was a purist. Actually I realise I'm not. I never was. I just want to watch F1 racing that you dare not leave the room to make a coffee for fear of missing something. If China is anything to go by then we had better fasten our seatbelts, this season is going to be one hell of a ride!

I am already counting the days until the next Grand Prix in Turkey and it's been quite a while since I have felt like that.

Len Hutton is from IntentsGP.com:  Kitted-out, pre-constructed tents at the circuit of your choice.

Recent comments on this article:

#1 Jon | 19 Apr 2011, 17:06 Reply »

Good points, I also noticed that first the FIA removed refuelling then Bridgestones used to last a whole race with a single "forced" pitstop. It seems now they are back tracking and want more pitstops to spice up the action. A bit odd, no?

#2 Jimmy@enterF1 | 19 Apr 2011, 20:03 Reply »

Sup Jon!

From my knowledge, the FIA saw no refuelling as a) cost saving (from not lugging all the equipment around the world) and b) safer as the risk of fires was present even in it's final years.

I don't think it was to keep cars out of the pit lane - AS FAR as I know!

#3 Jon | 20 Apr 2011, 08:54 Reply »

Heya Jimmy :)

About cost cutting measures we could have a whole topic. If it's the risk factor on fueling then yes but nowadays it should be very minimal unless you have Ferrari's pit crew releasing cars with the hose still attached ;p

If cost cutting was the issue then KERS, DRS, smaller rear wings etc should have never been introduced as every year there is new stuff and new expenses. I seriously doubt the teams do actually save money cause of no refuelling.

The rule changes kill the whole money saving measures.

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• Heya Jimmy :)

  About cost cutting measures we could have a whole topic. If it's the risk factor on fueling then yes but nowadays it should be very...
  by Jon
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