If we are here discussing whether this is Formula 1 or not, whether we like what we saw in Melbourne or not, whether Mercedes has a fair advantage, whether the overtaking seen is real or artificial… well, it is above all thanks to the incredible reflexes of Franco Colapinto.
The Alpine pilot has avoided an accident of enormous proportions at the startdodging – without even touching – Lawson’s Racing Bulls practically abandoned at the start four rows ahead. But the real luck (so to speak) is that practically everyone had problems at the start, effectively reducing the risk to a minimum: Leclerc, for example, was convinced that he could easily climb from fourth to ninth/tenth position, and instead he found himself incredibly leader in turn-1 doing the slalom between the Mercedes and Hadjar’s Red Bull.
An issue that has been known for at least a year
The departures theme it only emerged during testing in Bahrain, when Mercedes and McLaren first launched the alarm about the risks due to too slow reactions due to the new structure of the power units. The elimination of the MGU-H, in fact, complicated the response of the turbocharger, generating the phenomenon of turbo lag, i.e. a delay in response to the power request, especially during the start-up phase.
Ferrari, however, she already talked about it a year ago with Frédéric Vasseur and is perhaps the only one to have considered this aspect in the design of her power unitsacrificing maximum power for better responsiveness with a smaller turbo.
The Federation tried to remedy this by finding a sort of compromise between the parties in order not to penalize those who, like Cavallino, had rightly made choices taking this aspect into account: a 5 second pre-start to allow everyone to prepare the engine and avoid trouble when the traffic lights go out.
Evidently it’s not enough: we will need to understand how almost everyone found themselves on the pitch with a zero battery charge level, as well as finding solutions to avoid disasters in the future. Because the danger – and Colapinto knows it – is around the cornerespecially if a car from the front rows crashes. One more problem to think about, and quickly, instead of pointing the finger at the drivers’ criticisms or praising the increase in overtaking compared to 12 months ago…
