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Engineering a solution to F1's problems

Criticism of the tedious Formula 1 season opener in Bahrain has been widespread. Jonathan Noble reckons he knows how to put things right

It has often been said in Formula 1 circles that if you want proper, considered decisions about rule changes, then you don't ask those who run the teams, you go straight to the engineers.

Bernie Ecclestone would add that doing so also saves on the entensive bills for sandwiches and mineral water that come from the many team bosses meetings.

The mantra about getting the engineers involved has kept coming back into my head time and again after a Bahrain Grand Prix that left opinion divided on if Formula 1 has really messed up this year, or if the season opener was just a blip in what will still be a truly epic season.

This was in the hours when we thought that the new regulations, with the banning of refuelling and the top 10 forced to start on their qualifying tyres, would help us deliver a spectacle worthy of the quality of the field this year.

The engineers suggested that the new regulations had thrown up a hugely different concept for the teams - and so should be much better for the fans.

With refuelling, and especially the rule forcing drivers to qualify with their starting fuel load, the races were all but decided by banks of computers working out optimum strategies - with specific laps laid down for drivers to make their stops en route to the chequered flag.

The grid would be one thing, but if you knew the fuel loads - as we did throughout 2009 - then you could pretty much work out who was in the running for the win - and who was in for a long afternoon.

Yet, although in theory the battle for victory was pretty much decided from the moment the race got underway - for us and the fans at home, it was a still a story that would unfold in front of our eyes.

The engineer suggested that although matters were partly ruined by knowing fuel loads last year, there were still considerable unknowns for the fan sat in front of his television screen as the race got underway.

Rubens Barrichello's brilliant victory in Italy last year (when he used his one-stop strategy to perfect effect to overhaul team-mate Jenson Button and the man who should have won - Heikki Kovalainen) is a classic example of why you still had to watch the races, even if the final strategies made it clear why a particular man had won.

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