| The 2010 Formula One season is underway with | | | | tracks. Bahrain is a perfect example. The track |
| the Bahrain Grand Prix being completed this | | | | only has one or two places were passing can |
| weekend. It was supposed to be the start of a | | | | occur. The new section added was bumpy and |
| glorious season with some big teams all looking | | | | included something like nine sweeping turns in the |
| competitive and no less than four world | | | | new mile long section. It is impossible to pass in |
| champions on the starting grid. As is often the | | | | these turns as there is simply not a wide enough |
| case, the race did not even closely live up to the | | | | grove and no where to go. The tracks need to |
| hype. | | | | be designed with more areas for passing |
| The FIA has played around with different | | | | automatically built in. |
| regulations in an attempt to make Formula One | | | | The second problem is the aerodynamics on the |
| more exciting with more passing. One idea that | | | | car. The regulations have not dealt with this issue. |
| was focused on for the 2010 season was to | | | | The problem is the cars are still so aero sensitive |
| eliminate passing in the pits. This would occur | | | | that they can't pull up behind each other. If they |
| when one car would run longer than the other and | | | | do at any speed at all, the car in front disturbs |
| then "pass it" when it needed less time to take on | | | | the air and the car behind loses grip. This creates |
| fuel and get back on track. | | | | the proverbial train around the track with slower |
| To eliminate such passes, the FIA announced | | | | cars holding up fast cars. This is exactly what we |
| there would be no refueling this year. Cars would | | | | saw with Lewis Hamilton spending half the race |
| have to pit once for tires, but that was it. The | | | | behind the obviously slower Nico Rosberg. |
| basic idea was this would force the drivers to be | | | | I am not the only one who thought this was a |
| aggressive and make passes on the track. Bahrain | | | | problem. Michael Schumacher complained |
| showed just how misguided this idea was. There | | | | immediately afterward and Martin Whitmarsh who |
| was a lot of passing in the first lap, but then | | | | leads McLaren called for immediate rule changes. I |
| almost none except for back markers. The only | | | | agree with both of them. If none are made, this |
| passing late in the race occurred when leader | | | | highly anticipated season could become one of the |
| Sebastian Vettel lost power with an engine | | | | more boring on record. That would be |
| problem and was passed repeatedly. | | | | unfortunate. |
| There are two problems with F1. The first is the | | | | |