* Listening to Relentless Fours – Grammatics *
This is a controversial viewpoint (I have ascertained from the internet and its many discussions on the subject), but I feel that the proceedings over the weekend were not as clear cut as the consensus.
Similar to how Red Bull were well within their rights to assign front wings to whomever they desired (being the bill-payers, and as it is essentially a business first), I felt that Ferrari were within their prerogative to swap the driver positions if they thought that was best for their season. It is a team game.
There isn’t exactly much overtaking in the sport and when team mates are allowed to compete with each other it can go very wrong or it can lead to quite hairy moments.
Similar to how teams tend not to send drivers out into the same part of the circuit in qualifying, it is mere self preservation of the constructors championship. The sport should be equipped in that a driver should be able to overtake if he is reasonably faster than their target. Currently, drivers have to take a big risk, and there just simply isn’t enough reward to quantify it.
However. Once again, drawing parallel’s to the Red Bull PR woes of the previous race, Ferrari’s violation comes down to the execution. Similar to Austria 2002 and similar to taking Webber’s front wing with precious few minutes before qualifying, it inevitably leads to a fan backlash.
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