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by Frederick A. Babb

Created on: April 27, 2010   Last Updated: April 28, 2010

Formula One is more than motorize competition and driver drama.  The single most compelling aspect Formula One has offered the world is its ability to test bed inventions which eventually find their way to our everyday lives.  To place limits on innovations is to compromise the limits of those inventing ideas to make our lives better, safer, and more cost efficient.

Some of the innovations which have fallen over into our automobiles are ABS Braking systems, traction control, launch control, active suspension, and autoshifting engines to name a few.  When these innovations in auto technology found their way into Formula One, they provided complete domination of the Williams team that used them.  Eventually they were banned because they took away from the competitive edge and driver ability, yet the inventions now are part of our everyday automobiles.  As a result we have safer, more fuel efficient automobiles to drive.

If Formula One were to fall into the limitations of one motor for all teams, they would basically be limiting the ability to make technical advances based on the economical limitations of the team with the least amount of money.  While the Formula One racing as always has been about attempting to make vehicles equal, there needs to be a certain degree of space to permit engineers to find the extra horsepower, air drag, etc. within the rules placed on them.

If a racing fan wishes to support a racing series based on identically-prepared automobiles to challenge the abilities of the driver ability, they should place the International Race of Champions (better known as IROC) competition at the top of their list.  But, for everything IROC offers, it also demonstrates the downside of equal racing.  IROC offers identically-prepared automobiles manufactured by a single team of mechanics.  This racing was first started in 1972, yet by 2007 it became a race of the past.  This is a perfect demonstration that racing fans do not want nor will they support a monopoly of power in any form of racing.

Formula One racing is historically unique from any other racing.  Considered the crème de crème of automobile racing, it has earned this reputation based on racing strategies, engineering marvels and driver’s ability to make it unlike any other racing event.  The drama carries over from the racetrack to the offseason dancing of drivers to different teams, the interpretations each team has of a set of specifications and the strategy on race day to get the edge over the competition.  The tracks are more than a series of left turns and are historically important as the race itself.

I must confess I never was much of a Formula One fan as I grew up in a sheltered USA environment where Indy Car, NASCAR and off-road racing dominate the news.  It was only after I moved overseas did I discover the art and beauty of Formula One.  The rivalry between Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost provided my first drama which hooked me to this very day.

I must also confess a good part of my interest in the sports is indeed the competition between teams.  Not always does money translate into victories.  In 2009, the richer teams invested heavily into the KERS system for recuperating energy to create extra horsepower.  Yet, it was the first year team of Brawn with some slick rear diffusers.  Three of the teams to include eventual champions Brawn, drove cars with a diffuse using the rear crash structure to assist the generating of downforce.  This edge, while quickly protested by the larger, richer teams, was declared legal in the spirit of the regulations.  Brawn dominated the competition the first half of the season and, once the richer teams caught up to their technology on the rear diffusers, was able to hang on with enough points to win both the driver’s championship with Jenson Button and the Constructors Championship while teaching the world that it didn’t take the best motor to be a winner.   It also proved that, by establishing a certain set of rules and permitting engineers to push the guidelines of said rules to the limits, money doesn’t always guarantee victory, rather innovation does.  And, as I started out, innovation is what the Formula One is all about. 

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