Obviously, as a Ferrari fan I like this whole new development about as much as a stick poking into my eye socket, but, just about everything you say I have to agree with. The one part I'm on the fence about though is if it is technically right or wrong. The rules police I'm sure will look into it and some kind of ruling will come out.

 

Lets see what the "FIA-rrari" says about Mclaren's little advantage before the next race.

 

C'mon, this isn't even CLOSE to an "unfair" advantage! It seems easily copied and pushing the limits of the rules is a big part of all forms of pro racing. Could it be banned? Sure. But I'll be peeved if there is any additional penalty.

 

i realize that because i do it

from the 2008 fia f1 technical regulations:

"9.3 Traction control
No car may be equipped with a system or device which is capable of preventing the driven wheels from spinning under power or of compensating for excessive throttle demand by the driver.

Any device or system which notifies the driver of the onset of wheel spin is not permitted."

my question how is it legal?

 

And how sure are you that this control does that? The description of it floating around in the press is rather vague, but it does not seem to be real traction control anyway. Instead it just seems to be an engine torque limiter.

Traction control, as intended in that rule, is based on measuring wheelspin.

 

Ok, maybe I'm missing something here, but how do these two agree with each other???

1- 9.3 Traction control- No car may be equipped with a system or device which is capable of preventing the driven wheels from spinning under power or of compensating for excessive throttle demand by the driver.

2- Using two fingers at the same time allows the car always to have the most favourable engine torque setting for each gear, thus giving the driver a tool for limiting wheelspin out of slow corners without then suffering a reduction in power in the higher gears.

It just sounds to me like holding in the 2-levers when needed exiting the corner is limiting the amout of torque being put down, so the driver can very quickly mash the throttle to the floor, and the revised torque application map reduces the chances of power induced oversteer.

 

Like I said, this system isn't really "traction control" as defined. It doesn't measure or limit wheelspin at all. It just changes the torque map of the engine, and apparently it is under manual control rather than being automatic the way the TC was.

 

Not every team has Adrian Newey nor did every team have a Michael Schumacher.

Is that an unfair advantage?

It can't be cheating if it's technically legal.

 

I know nothing about it other than what I read here, but it seems like this would be the way it would work:

Smooth surface
-- normal: full throttle leads to wheelspin
-- McLaren: torque is lower, so full throttle not as likely to spin wheels
-- TC: wheelspin is directly and automatically controlled

Bumpy/wet/poor surface
-- normal: full throttle leads to wheelspin
-- McLaren: torque is lower, but full throttle still leads to wheelspin
-- TC: wheelspin is directly and automatically controlled

As far as I can tell from what I read here, having the driver remap the engine on the fly is perfectly legal. McLaren just came up with a way to make doing so convenient and easy for the driver.

Now if it turns out this is some hidden backdoor into the ECU -- then THAT would be cheating.

 

Your statement is a very interesting one.
Majority of teams don't have as much budget as the top ones do. It gives the top teams an unfair advantage so do you consider them to be cheaters?