Should Adrian Newey go to Ferrari?

If you were Adrian Newey, would you go to Ferrari?
Andy Geering, via Twitter

Andy, Red Bull is a team that has been built up around Adrian's 'traditional' way of working. If he was to ask Ferrari's bosses to set him up like that, they might just think he was mad.

Drawing stuff in 2D with a pencil means you have to be able to understand it and by doing it this way you are not restricted by a CAD system's surfacing limitations.

Also, there is no magic bullet for a team like Ferrari. If Adrian were to go there and Ferrari was to cater for his every wish, which would mean getting quite a few new people around him, it would still take two, maybe three years to reap the benefits of his vast knowledge.

The big question is does Adrian want to put that amount of effort into it before he gets any success and will he want to be around F1 for that amount of time?

I think he does. Ferrari would be another new challenge and only he knows how things really are within Red Bull. It is not always a good thing when one enthusiastic individual is paying the bills.

If he could win races and championships with Williams, McLaren, Red Bull and Ferrari it would make for an impressive CV. To go to Ferrari he could name his price and when he decided his F1 career was over he would also have the opportunity to follow that up with the most exotic and fastest road car ever built.

I know if I was Luca di Montezemolo that is what I would be offering him.

You have said that you think Sebastian Vettel is better than Ayrton Senna at qualifying. Why do you think that? Heresy to most...
Larry Parker, via Twitter

As far as I am concerned, Larry, Ayrton Senna was one of the greatest F1 drivers I have ever had the pleasure to watch and know.

But, as an example, if you look back at the all-conquering McLaren of 1988, which won 15 of the 16 races, Ayrton won eight and Alain Prost seven. Senna was on pole 13 times - much better than Prost - and at Monaco he was on pole with Prost a full 1.4s slower but still second.

Then Gerhard Berger was third, 2.6s slower and Michele Alberto was fourth, 3.3s behind. Currently, drivers are fighting for tenths if not hundredths of a second to claim that pole position. Other than a few stragglers, the gap to fourth from that 1988 Monaco field just about covers a current F1 grid.

One thing that also stands in Vettel's favour is his ability to not overdrive the tyres as many of his pole positions have come from the last section of the lap.

I suppose I should rephrase my earlier statement. I think they are both very close - as is Lewis Hamilton - when it comes to wringing a car's neck to get the best out of it.

Is F1 in danger of becoming a boring sport given the rule changes for 2014? If so, what can be done to stop this?
Jason Craig, via Twitter

Jason, it depends on how you classify boring. Personally, I think we've seen some great battles throughout the field this year.

However, taking just the racing we see on a Sunday afternoon, it's difficult to understand why we would see anything other than a procession.

We spend all of the Friday- and Saturday-morning practice sessions getting the best laptime from the car. Then, on Saturday afternoon in qualifying it's about arranging the grid in performance order. So why should a slower car pass a faster car during a race?

As far as a solution is concerned, I'm sure everyone has their own opinions and we have seen some of these ideas over the past few years. First, it was to force the design of the car to not be so aero-dependent, which failed. Then it was driver-adjustable front wings, which failed. Then you have the DRS - artificial overtaking - which I don't like.

From my point of view, points should be awarded for qualifying on Saturday, perhaps for a separate 'speed' championship award, but the race should be started in drivers' championship order reversed.

This would mean we'd have the best driver winning the championship because it would not all be about out-and-out speed, it would be about overtaking as well.

Many of the top drivers have started at the back of the grid and come through to get a good result or even win. Vettel in Barcelona is an example; he started 15th and at the end of the race he was very happy to finish fourth.

If he had started fourth and just held his position, he would have been full of doom and gloom.

Do you think that Marussia can catch Sauber, and will Caterham continue next year in F1?
Josue Lopez, via Twitter

Josue, as Marussia and Sauber use the same Ferrari power unit package we can take that out of the equation.

Sauber has the experience of Adrian Sutil, so as far as development is concerned it should be leading the team. But I believe Marussia has the better design group and from the top down they are all racers.

So to answer your question, it will be budget-dependent but I do believe Marussia can close the gap on at least a few occasions. Will that be enough to nab them that vital point or two? That will depend on the reliability of the others.

As far as Caterham is concerned, Tony Fernandes has been firing a few shots over the bows of his staff saying that improvement is necessary if they are to stay in business.

I suppose he has a right to say this and, of the new teams, Caterham has undoubtedly underachieved the most.

F1 is a very expensive business and Tony's pockets are only so deep. Only he knows if he has reached the loose change yet.

Why do you think Red Bull has the best aero package when on an aero-dependent track in Spain Mercedes was a second faster than Red Bull?
James Perry, via Facebook

Every track is aero and power dependent, but with the current rules I suppose we are looking at a 50/50 split at a track like Barcelona, and probably 40 power/60 aero at Monaco.

Watching from trackside, the Red Bull can turn in and lean on the outside tyres and neither end gives up; both ends start to slide together if you are turning in too fast. In comparison, the other cars, including the Mercedes, break into understeer and/or oversteer, which means they are balance limited.

One of Red Bull's secret weapons over the past few years is to give the drivers usable downforce, not just peaky downforce. So when the car's rideheights are changing during braking or it is rolling and the steering lock is changing, I believe Red Bull has the most stable aerodynamic package.

Daniel Ricciardo is able to exploit this at the moment and I think Vettel will be able to do the same very soon. Remember, he has spent the past three years using the exhaust-blown diffuser like no one else. It's very easy to try to carry this driving style over into a new set of regulations.

What should the ideal budget be for an F1 team?
Richard Chilton, via Facebook

Richard, how long is a piece of string? As with our own personal lives, an F1 team needs to manage its finances without getting itself into lots of debt that it can't afford to get out of or indeed service.

If you take Red Bull, which has probably the biggest budget of something like £200 million, and Marussia, with something like £60 million, it shows there is a huge spread. I think it is unreasonable to expect Red Bull to compete for £60 million and it is more or less impossible for Marussia to find £200 million.

So if a way can be found either to implement a budget cap or control the regulations to achieve a figure somewhere in the middle, say £130m - still an enormous amount of money - it would be fairer and more sustainable for all.

More important, a team needs to be solvent. If not, or if accounts show a team to be heading into the red with no realistic means to pull it back, immediate action would be required.

What F1 technology do you see as most likely to impact roadgoing vehicles?
Joe Chiron, via Twitter

The MGU-H is a good example of what can be a cost effective crossover, Joe. This motor-generator unit that's used to control turbo boost and generate electrical energy at the same time is a win/win situation.

Mercedes at Brixworth is a world leader in battery technology. McLaren Electronics has a real cross over with outside industries of all sorts when it comes to control systems and data-gathering. The big challenge is to make it cost effective.

As F1 cars are not using 100kg per race now, should we see a reduction in fuel allowance for 2015?
James Frankland, via Twitter

For 2015 it would be a little early. I would suggest that the engine manufacturers need another year to let the dust settle and get the best out of what they have got.

Assuming that hybrid power units are here to stay, I would then suggest that a five per cent reduction in both fuel flow and race-fuel allowance every year for five years would be a decent challenge.

I don't know what the numbers would really be but this, in conjunction with a similar increase in battery storage capacity and allowable per-lap charge, would move the emphasis towards better overall efficiency.