It would not be Formula One without an inbetween-races controversy. Once again, it’s surrounding Red Bull.
According to Autosprint (in Italian), Red Bull used an ‘illegal traction system’ in the Canadian Grand Prix. It was noticed when Mark Webber dived up the inside of Giedo van der Garde causing the Australian to lose part of his front wong and the Dutchman – who got the blame for the crash – to end up sideways.
The reports came about after Webber left some unusual tyre markings on the track as he pulled away from the hairpin.
Of course, it could be down to many things. According to Craig Scarborough, the unusual patterns were down to drivetrain oscillation causing a momentary change in torque at the wheels.
It’s natural for people to get suspicious of unusual things in F1 – it happened with Red Bull’s flexing front wing. But there was evidence of that. And even that wasn’t proved.
But there’s one fundamental reason why Red Bull couldn’t use a traction system in Canada – or any other race: all 11 teams are required to run an ECU (electronic control unit) which, although produced by McLaren, are approved by the FiA. The FiA also check these ECUs for modification.
It would have been picked up after the Canadian Grand Prix. The FiA would be investigating it if there was an issue. There is no investigation going on by the governing body of Formula One. And the chances are, there won’t be. Because there was nothing dodgy about this.
It happened ONCE. Out of a 70-lap race, the unusual patterns happened (or, rather, were noticed) once. After a collision. Yet it’s automatically assumed the worst (mainly by bloggers with incredibly biased articles/headlines).
Let’s all stop speculation. Or, alternatively, take Gary Hartstein’s advice:
Don’t just repeat horseshit as if it was gospel.
— Gary Hartstein (@former_f1doc) June 18, 2013
Jack Amey on F1 