Rosberg excited by traction control ban

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Five races to go until the traction control ban – assuming it isn’t jeopardised by the row over ECUs. We’re going to see more spins next year, according to Nico Rosberg:

It’s going to be exciting. I tried it recently and it was quite shocking actually. In the difficulty sense it is not ideal – and it is going to be a big challenge for everybody.

I was going through the chicane (in the test) and I hit the throttle because I forgot that traction control was off. I was in first gear, and it spun me round quicker than I was able to think. I was facing the other way and I was like, ‘Whoa!’ In the wet it would be incredibly difficult.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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12 comments on “Rosberg excited by traction control ban”

  1. I’m relatively hopeful this will be a shot in the arm for the sport, but a part of me thinks the TC ban will probably do something similar to the one-tyre rule, i.e. shake the sport up for about half to two-thirds of a season, and then become less of a factor once teams and drivers have adjusted to it.

  2. So…..Nico’s the first to comment on the LACK of traction control. Yes, it’s done in more than one F1 driver. A much malaigned driver named Antonio Pizzonia, a GREAT tester for Williams, was tossed aside and ended up in USA champ cars. Good in F1 with traction control, he never came to grips without it!
    Today he’s a “has-been”.

  3. I’m pretty sure the teams will find a way to work around this… Sooner rather than later.

    The fact they got a one-to-two-year notice means they’ve had a lot of time to work on a workaround for it.

    At least that’s what I think.

  4. Pizzonia races in GP2, without traction control :-)

  5. whats the deal with Stability control? Has that been officially banned?

  6. Actually Pizzonia was dropped by his FMS GP2 team before the French Grand Prix having only scored one point in five races. He’s since been replaced by Adam Carroll who’s won twice.

    As far as I’m aware stability control is not legal, but some car manufacturers including BMW would like it legalised. It absolutely must not be allowed in my opinion. Autosport’s Mark Hughes has written a couple of very good articles arguing the same.

  7. Surely stability control would be a form fo traction control (and a very advanced form at that!)

    Keith’s right. Mark’s right. The sport should not be sacrificed to BMW’s desire to use F1 to market its road car gizmos

  8. Apparently I’m way off, but I thought the FIA gave up on banning traction control a few years ago because it was becoming impossible for the scrutineers to detect? I’m all for banning it of course, but as Journeyer said the teams will find a way to work around it. But if the teams can’t, then the sport is much better for it!

    Now if they just bring back manual gearboxes and clutch pedals the sport would be set! Give the drivers a car in which they can REALLY show their talents.

  9. Eric, exactly the reason why the FIA is intoducing standard ECU’s for the 2008 is to ensure that the teams obide by the ban of traction control. I must agree with Robert, we are dealing with the best drivers in the world and it will not take long for the them to adjust. I sincerely believe that the only limitation the FIA must impose on the teams is the width,length,height,mass and tyre construction of the cars and allow the aerodynamicist complete freedom within this volumetric space and believe me we will see F1 as we have never seen it before. The one thing we must stay clear of is ground effect cars as we know the history and sad results of this design philosophy.

  10. The McLaren Microsoft ECU does not seem to be working to most teams’ satisfaction…

    Pierre, doing that might turn out to be very innovative indeed. Maybe too innovative. A team or two who manage to utilise that entire freedom well may fly away leaving the others too far behind.. I think. Not to mention the cost of developing a car with that much of freedom would probably see some teams gaining an upper hand easily due to their resources.

  11. Just a thought on the ‘design within a cuboid’ idea – it’d end up being Le Mans racing with smaller engines, surely…

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