The annual Ferrari junket to Madonna di Campiglio in the Italian Alps last week is, understandably, regarded by motor-racing journalists as the king of freebies. Expect a whole slew of sports stories about the new Formula One season, which roars off in a few weeks in Bahrain. But, in truth, 2011 has a fair bit to live up to.
There was an excellent narrative last year as the championship battle went to the wire in Abu Dhabi with four drivers still in the hunt. The season might have been a thriller but it was still very apparent that modern grand prix racing cars aren’t very good at their core purpose: racing.
So this year, a lot of very rich men will be crossing their fingers that the on-track show will have improved. A number of rule changes should make overtaking easier, though the purists hope that the exercise of getting ahead of the car in front doesn’t become so simple as to render the manoeuvre almost meaningless.
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