THE FACTS

Even though the 2010 Formula 1 season ended up being one of the closest battles in the sport's history, Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali predicts that 2011 will be even more competitive. "2010 was a fierce season and 2011 will be even more so," Domenicali told La Repubblica. "Besides Red Bull, which has won and will therefore start as favourite, McLaren will be back strong as it's always been up front and [Lewis] Hamilton is an exceptional driver. I also expect Mercedes to be up there: it has invested too much to afford another season like the last one."

Domenicali went on to predict that many races will be won or lost based on two key points: race strategy and organizing key technical team members into functional groups. "On the track we'll have to get used to a bit of a revolution: who starts on pole won't automatically have a straightforward path to victory anymore. Strategies will be important," he explained. "But more generally it will be important to work on the group. The real problem in today's F1 is that there aren't landmark technical people anymore. There's only a single one-man-show remaining: Adrian Newey. As for the rest, at every level, there are teams with excellent number twos and number threes coordinated by excellent people. So I think the real challenge is to form people and groups: only this way you can win; only this way a new era will begin," Domenicali added.

As for race strategy, Ferrari has already shuffled their team for 2011. Red Bull chief strategist Neil Martin now graces Ferrari's garage and Nick Fry has been named head of race track engineering.

MY TAKE

While 2011 should be a very competitive season, I really don't see it being a four-team race. I am not as optimistic about Mercedes Grand Prix's ability to close the gap between it and McLaren within a single off-season. I have no doubt that Mercedes will improve - they really couldn't do any worse. But I do not see them suddenly becoming a factor in either world championship chase.

I don't like the way that everyone bows down at the throne of Adrian Newey these days. Obviously, Newey did a great job at Red Bull this year. Yet, he did no better job than Ross Brawn and Jorg Zander did at Brawn GP in 2009. I like Newey, but we have seen the likes of him before - technical directors who push the limit of what is legal and illegal. The most successful are those who can hit the gray area of the rules. Red Bull was great at achieving this in 2010.

Ferrari should be concerned about race strategy as well. Domenicali almost lost his job over the pit-timing blunder at Abu Dhabi that cost Alonso a world title. Barring changing weather conditions on the track - however - the refueling ban has really eviscerated all in-race strategy from Formula 1. Only tire changes really matter now and Ferrari proved all season long that they had the best pit crew in the sport.

It is a luxury that Ferrari can focus on creating special groups within its own organization to focus on development minutia. It makes you wonder how teams like Virgin, HRT and even Force India can keep up. Each of those three teams will be testing at Valencia with their 2010 car. So much for all of these rules creating parity in the sport. And so much for Domenicali's patronization about competitiveness.

Just my take.

SOURCES

Domenicali: 2011 to be very competitive | Planet F1 | Formula One News

 

Sorry for the misspelling in the thread title.

I am still a bit rusty - and not just my hair.

 

I hope 2011 will be another competitive season. I agree that Mercedes GP will have a tough time bridging that gap to catch up to the Big 3 and I also think the 3 rookie teams will continue to struggle.

To be honest though, my gut feeling is that this season won't be as much fun as last season, and we'll have to wait for the big changes in 2012 when the sport will see a flood of new tracks, or 2013 when the new engine regs kick in. In the meantime, I hope KERS can shake things up a bit and potentially help some of the smaller teams to see some success. It gets old watching Red Bull, Ferrari, or McLaren win nearly every race. I like rooting for the underdogs.

 

Remember when it was a one "horse" race Al? Ferrari used to sew up both championships half way through the season.

KERS is a joke. It is purely a marketing vehicle for F1. It is too expensive and does not increase performance enough.

 

I like KERS. I don't like the Movable rear wings.

 

I agree with Cuquerella here.

F1 : KERS just a marketing ploys claims HRT engineer

 

He's just jealous. In all seriousness though, yes it is a marketing ploy, but everything in F1 is a marketing ploy.

 

^^^Ding ding ding!

HRT can't realistically afford the tech so of course they say it's a marketing ploy. Fact of the matter is, when there were teams that ran KERS back in '09, it led to some interesting races. I liked the fact that it would break and was dangerous and high tech and had some potential real world applications.

Porsche has picked up on the technology and may start implementing it into road cars. I think that's absolutely awesome!

 

I like anything that can make the cars faster and has the potential to increase the excitement of the racing action.

 

The funny thing is, F1 put in the refueling ban in 2010 to promote overtaking.

Stats show that there was less overtaking in 2010 with the ban than in 2009 without it.

F1 just can't seem to get it right sometimes.