Was Refuelling Banned Too Soon?
In hindsight, the refuelling ban twinned with the ejection of double-diffusers would have made much more sense; however the series is now left with one year of cars that are unable to pass on track while unable to extract the most from strategy. Races could potentially be decided by how teams treat their tyres, yet for their final season in the sport, Bridgestone have produced what appear to be their most reliable rubber yet, thereby making variations in tyre strategy rather limited as well.
The refuelling ban was not going to be the only answer to the question of dull races though. As stated many times by many people, as long as the dirty air from the front wing and undertray is prevalent, then passing is always going to be incredibly difficult (here’s my contribution). We are not looking for easy passing manoeuvres – it’s simply not fun to watch when there’s no challenge – but the car’s at least need to be able to attempt a pass and getting designers to easily give up on aerodynamic downforce will be no easy task.