Taming the beast – driving without driver aids

February 26, 2008

Formula1.com is reporting on the major change for the year which is the implementation of the Standardised Electronic Control Unit, or SECU, and with it the elimination of the driver aids (traction control, etc.).

The SECU enables the FIA to police an article of the regulations central to the ‘DNA’ of Formula One racing – that “the driver shall drive the car alone and unaided”. But, what should we expect as this new era dawns? And how difficult is it to tame a 2008-spec Formula One car? Double world champion Fernando Alonso and Renault team mate, Nelson Piquet Jr, explain…

And yet, despite all the changes, the speed of the cars remains almost unaffected. The loss of the driver aids represents a loss of between three and four tenths per lap, a difference that is unnoticeable to the naked eye. More important, perhaps, is what the fans now know they are watching: 22 of the world’s best drivers, in total control of the most demanding racing cars on the planet.

Posted in FIA