personally, i think the diffuser issue has robbed us of a great fight for the title.

diffusser is just an excuse for teams dropping the ball this year.

red bull were the last to have one, and look to be the quickest team at the moment


should be an exciting close to the season now, with RB chasing down Brawn, im looking forward to it

i also think the webber/vettel battle will be the team mate battle this year. and could get very alonso/hamilton toward the end if they are still close and within shouting distance of jenson

I have been disappointed by this season so far, but it's not because of the difusor.
Dull races, politics, ugly cars, Massa and Hamilton in poor cars... it's all mining my interest.

That goes double for me! Especially the ugly cars bit!

Maybe fisichella, trulli, barrichello etc are just in good cars, Ferrari and Mac are NOT worse or terrible or any of that? Glass half full way of looking at it.

Im my opinion all the 2009 F1 cars should, at end of season, be sent to a recycling plant!

If Red Bull's current pace is genuine, 2009 could be very interesting indeed. Because instead of a series of races, the championship becomes one big race to see how many points Button can bank before Vettel catches him up in the standings, a meta-race if you will.

And the 2009 cars look great. The 2007 and 2008 versions were the kinds of cars small children run from.

you can feel disappointed for any reason, not just the diffuser issue

I think the OP and creator of this poll may just be a tad biased.

The diffuser isn't the reason my Scuderia aren't winning, they battled till the end of 2008 and their 2009 car suffered for it, plus Brawn and Red Bull have done a better job. It's the way it goes. The diffuser issue doesn't help the teams that don't/didn't have one, but it wouldn't have made the difference required to make the Mac, Ferrari, BMW etc win.

it has nothing to do with Ferrari, this was going to be the year when 'the show / racing / passing' were all supossed to be great, remember ?

i think no in-season testing has hurt the competition, too. the 2 tyre compound rule as well.

remember, the tyre rule was implemented to increase passing, which I think has failed.

I'm rooting hard for Vettel to challenge Jenson, in a way that Mclaren / Ferrari battled for the last 2 years

I would hazard a guess that Brawn and Red Bull are quite competitive, along with the other teams who are competing lower down the list. The 'highlights' that are shown of past races, are just that, 'highlights', there has never been wholesale passing.

I do agree the banning of testing has hurt the teams and the two compound tyre rule is farcical as it has done nothing to enhance the racing.

But, I don't feel cheated this season, because, some teams are competitive, maybe not (at the moment) the usual suspects.

RBR proved the DD diffuser isn't the only deciding factor. It didn't have the DD diffusor at season start, doesn't have KERS and is competitive from race 1 and teh fatses in the last race. So DD is not the issue. It's the entire car. And the big boys simply dropped the ball. Stop whining!

Why has it robbed us of a great fight for the title? Am I the only one that thinks Red Bull still have a lot to say this year, and Brawn winning the title(s) isn't a foregone conclusion?

Personally I am enjoying the season so far. Different people at the front, Williams doing much better and the cars don't look quite as bad as they did at first (almost, but not quite!)

Give me 2009 over 1992/2002/2004 any day of the week

It's nothing to do with the diffuser.

As others have already said the DDD is a complete red herring and the easiest thing for people to blame, but RBR have been competive without it, and the if they hadnt dropped the ball themselves in a couple of races we could have seen some closer racing. There are also some good battles going on from cars furthur down the pack, but these always seem to be ignored because people get fixated purely on what is happening at the front, and what the scoreboard looks like. Really things are not that much different from most seasons. Even last year was only close because of the mistakes that were being made, but in general there wasnt that much close racing at the front.

no: I think we've been lucky to have had close championship showdowns the last 3 years. I've been watching for over 20 years and believe me, what we've had since 2006 is not normal.

I'm also dissapointed by this year, but not specifically by the DD.

The radical redesign was meant to improve the chances of overtaking but clearly hasn't, how many times has a much faster RB or Brawn been stuck in slower cars wakes.

Money wasted for no tangible output.

The shake up in running order was interesting and I'm pleased Jenson has got his shot at WDC, but I'm sure the intention wasn't to have just two teams racing for the title yet again, be it Renault-Ferrari, McLaren-Ferrari or Red Bull-Brawn.

Pleased to see Vetel performing too in a good car.....and although I'm a fan, its a good thing that Lewis has to learn to reign in his ego this year.

The FOTA breakaway was the only real highlight of the season, and even thats done and dusted. You might have thought they could have kept the handbags going for a little longer.

Overall though I have to say very dissapointed and deflated by the whole 2009 experience really. Here's hoping Vettel can win the next 6 races and close the gap to give us something to watch...or my TV will go off until Australia next year.

I reckon some big teams may feel, how shall I put it, slightly miffed and financially very inconvenienced.

- Spend heaps of time and money on KERS thinking it's the winning ticket only to find out it's an expensive irrelevance.

- Find out that your aero concept is fatally flawed from race 1 as it didn't incorporate the DDD due to some clever 'interpretation' of a grey rule by your rivals (and permitted by the FIA) leaving you fighting hard over minor points. And with another expensive 'patch up and catch up' job to do.

Yes, McLaren, BMW, Ferrari, Renault will feel cheated alright. Whether you think that's fair depends on what team or driver you are rooting for I guess.

I think it's a good thing Hamilton experiences this kind of season. Until (and including) 2009, he was the only driver in a top car or former World Champion who had always had a good machine under him. Massa, Alonso, Raikkonen, Kovalainen, Vettel, Webber, Button and Barrichello have had at least one season in a total lemon. I think a season in a bad car is a true measure of a driver's ability, simply to see what he - or she, as the case presents itself - is able to do.

2009 is not over yet. Vettel is 25 points behind with 9 races to go, he only needs to make up an average of 3 points per race. He gained 7 at Silvertstone, and any time RBR can 1-2 he gains 4 obviously, plus Jense can DNS at any time. He's in a faster car ATM with probably more development potential and is on a steeper part of his learning curve than Jense - probably he won't be repeating his early season mistakes.

Too soon to give up on this championship just yet

I'm not dissapointed with this year at all.

I've watched F1 for over 20 years and have found that every one of those years were unique for one reason or another, the only difference with this year is that it's not the usual suspects in the best cars winning all the races and it is some of that fan base that dosen't like it.

RBR are showing strong signs of catching and maybe overtaking Brawn but I guess it just depends what driver / team you route for will depend how happy you are to watch this years races.

On the on track action I'm rather happy. Overtaking could be better, but we've seen much worse seasons.

The not so surprise flop this year is KERS.

The politics of F1 is jucky since almost a decade.

Overall so far definitely a positive season for me, despite my team not doing great. But it had to happen, and IMO these setbacks are always healthy for the entire sport.

You are clueless

That diffuser is
-making overtaking harder
-delayde development of the cars for a few months

There are the facts. You are the one making excuses.

To answer the thread question of does anyone feel cheated out of a competitive 2009 season, my answer is most definitely no. Things may not always have been great, but to say we've been 'cheated' out of a competitive season is wrong. We haven't been 'cheated' out of anything, it's just the way the season has gone and how things have happened for various reasons.

If they are facts then you should be able to produce some evidence to back them up. So far I have not seen any hard facts or comments from teams saying that the DDD are making overtaking harder.

You mean 2 points.

Webber (jst sits there) will collect the same number of wins as Vettel (crash happy in comparison), and present equal chase to Button. Media and Euro fan bias is bizarre, most of these seem to think only Button and Vettel race for title, and arbitrarly exclude Webber and Barrichello

Success ballast (considered suitable in tourers after all) could do the trick to close the field.

After race for the next:
P1 +80 kg
2 +60 kg
3 +50 kg
4 + 40kg
5 + 35kg
6 + 30kg
7 + 25kg
8 + 20kg
9+ 15 kg
10 + 10 kg
11 + 5 kg

That ought to help swap Fisi and Button and many others as the winner each second race if that is what is desired as "exciting racing", someone tell Mosely ;)

Not overly concerned. Who expected the first year of a major regulation change to be competitive?

World Superbike seems on the verge of another golden age, MotoGP finally has more superstars than just Rossi, NASCAR has an owner-driver leading the points (I think), and the Isle of Man just ran a competitive race for electric motorcycles. A couple of injuries to Villopoto and Alessi has made this season's AMA Motocross title scarily open, too. 2009 = not bad.

If any of the above teams thought that their higher spending power entitled them to greater on-track success, then I think their current performance is what they deserve. They should be angry with themselves for their conservative thinking and their design philosophy of expensively-researched refinement of established concepts.

Formula One used to be (at least partly) about innovation, novel solutions and lateral thinking. I hope that the DD diffuser is evidence of the beginning of a return to these concepts.

To answer the original question more directly, no, I don't feel cheated out of a competitive 2009 season. Which is not to say that I am not disappointed with a number of things this season. On-track, I don't like the wide front wings, I think they look ugly. Off-track, I am extremely unhappy with the politics (a word that should not even have a place in sports) and the negative, 'dog-in-a-manger' attitude of Mosley and Ecclestone. But the on-track competition I am happy with.

There's arguments both ways. They've all been trotted out before many times so I'll end it there.

Hang on, that's not the way it's supposed to work here! Stop being innovative!

As stated numourus times before: You can be competitive without the DD diffuser, look at the first races from RBR and you can catch up in time, again look at RBR.
I (we?) are not making excuses, in fact, i'm stating there is nothing to make excuses for! Design a good car, with or without DDD, and you could have been competitive.

It seems to me you are the one looking for excuses. If not the DDD itself, then the mere fact that the rules prevent you from speedy development. Guess what: It's the same for everyone! Again, nothing to make axcuses for. RBR seems to be able to do it, and in fact so do Ferrari, as they are less behind than at the start!

So STFU and stop whining.

It's too hot and the whole thing is too boring. No offence of course.

If DDD wasnt an advantage Red Bull and others wouldn't have developed it. Then there is also the factor of wasting resources. The teams without DDD were forced to waste resources. Others could keep going with their program as planned and their cars were already faster.


I wonder why I'm replying to such crap talk and accusations.

You should be busier reading the news sites. It's been mentioned.

that really sums up my views, too

They may well be an advantage, but that doesnt mean they are making overtaking anymore difficult than when following a non-DDD car.

We should have a great battle for the rest of the year.
Most fans would agree that it will be betreen Brawn and RedBull.
There are some fundamental differences between the two car designs.
The RedBull tends to like low temperatures with fast corners while the Brawn is better at high temperatures with low speed corners.
Looking forward, I would agree that the chances will be spread almost evenly with a slight Brawn advantage for the next 9 races.
Germany; will be even
Hungary; advantage Brawn
Valencia; advantage Brawn
SPA; advantage RedBull
Italian; even
Singapor; advantage Brawn
Japan; advantage RedBull
Brasil; even
AbuDabi; advantage Brawn
Throw in some unexpected upgrades and some wet races, I think we will see anything but an early coronation.
And that is very good...

Until we see research results on this, I'd give you my educated guess you are wrong.

Not to mention a few engine change penalties. So far I think Vettel is the one most likely to be hit by those but things change so fast it could be anyone. Kubica's BMW will definitely be taking a two place drop on the grid by the end of the season.

wow, that's a great post .... I think it's the grey area of the Diffuser rule that irks me the most [esp. since they turned down a similar diffuser before]

Have I ever said the DDD wasn't an advantage? Any innovation is an advantage to the first, and costs resources for the rest to catch up. That's what the game is all about! So again: No excuses needed! They just dropped the ball! Thanks for agreeing with me.

So you admit your just guessing and it's not a fact.

This has undoubtedly been the worst season since 2004. After the fantastic seasons of 2007 and 2008, I was hoping for great things this year. And look what we got...Brawn and Button running away with the Championship and Lewis, Kimi, Massa and Alonso in duff cars.

Last year a three-week break would have been torture, but this year I'm really not that bothered.

My 'guess' is a bit more educated than your lack of understanding for this matter.

If you say so, but as I have not seen anything from any team to suggest the DDD are actually causing an issue I'll wait before shouting it's a fact.

Maybe they were duff drivers all along...


The top drivers (button, barrichello, vettel and webber) always find their way into top cars after all, as the cream always rises to the top.

The probalem I have with this season is some teams didnt start with DDD and this year with no in season testing they have no way at all of catching up. That has ruined the season for me. Seeing Brawn storm away with 6 out of 8 races has been pretty dull.

Another thing I hate is the look of the cars - the snowplough front wings and high, narrow rear wings just look stupid.