Traction control???

[angst]

It's by no means a done deal. Apparently Ferrari and the two Ferrari powered teams are going to be voting against it. No reason has been given as to why. Any ideas anyone?

[LYM]

I'm not surprised. McLaren (and to a certain extent, BMW) has always been championing the technology rather than human factor in F1. They would have been more ready to use TC if it is approved.

InsideF1 offers a very good report on the story:

FERRARI – and its two customer teams Sauber and Prost – are poised to torpedo the proposal to reintroduce traction control to Grand Prix racing at Thursday's F1 Commission meeting in Monaco.

That was the strong rumor circulating the paddock during the Jerez test, although the motivation behind such a highly political strategy is certainly far from clear.

At last month's F1 technical working group meeting, the F1 teams were unanimous in their agreement that traction control – banned since the end of 1993 – should be readmitted to the F1 rule book. This concept was enthusiastically endorsed by Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn who added he believed that this should be the first step in a package of measures to shape F1 car development over the next few years.

It is believed that a trade-off between Ferrari and McLaren, who were prepared to ditch some of their gearbox/differential development plans in exchange for Maranello's agreement to reintroduce traction control, will be scuppered if the Italian team changes its mind.

[Marshal]

Maybe its beacause Ferrari noticed how big a step forward the McLaren TC was when they've all been testing together this week. 'Cos we all know Ferrari don't usually like testing with everyone else, without good reason.