Now that the F1 season is over and with Alonso the Champion, has this signaled the end of the Schumacher era?
One thing is for certain is that along with the Grand Prix of the USA debacle, fans are flocking away from F1 due to the races becoming boring and predictable.
Apart from it seems McClaren, it doesn’t matter who you are, or what car you drive. If you qualify low down, or start from the back of the grid for whatever reason, you cannot expect to finish high up. Because the design of the cars in their present state generate so much down force it prevents a lot of cars from being able to overtake. (This is where I put my McClaren proviso again. If it is so difficult to overtake, how come that when Rakkonen gets demoted down the grid for yet another engine failure, how does he always manage to get back to a podium position. Is that car so much more powerful than the rest?).

Because the cars are generating so much down force when they get close to the car in front that they are intending to overtake, the air coming from the car in front is ‘spoiled’ which means that in effect, they lose down force and are unable to over take.

The FIA have released a press statement showing the results of a survey they have been conducting to try and get round this problem. Now considering my past opinions of some of the people involved in F1, this is a great move and fantastic news for the fans. It might turn it back into a race again.

The FIA consultation on the future of Formula One clearly demonstrated that the vast majority of the viewing public (94% according to the FIA/AMD survey) want more overtaking. This is at a time when overtaking in Formula One has become increasingly difficult.

Article

More links:

http://www.fia.com
http://www.sportnetwork.net/main/s107/st84074.htm

View image of new wing#2
View image of air flow changes

The full size image originals can be found on the FIA web site.