This season, a number of changes were made to F1's rules and regulations, with the intention of increasing the amount of overtaking seen during races. Looking at these initiatives purely in terms of the results they were designed to bring about, it is difficult to argue that they have not been a massive success. So why is it that so many fans feel such antipathy towards the "new" Formula 1?
DRS
I believe that it is the hardcore, perma-fans of F1, who find the Drag Reduction System the most difficult to stomach. Those of us who have followed the sport since childhood, all have cherished memories of our favourite overtakes - Mansell on Senna, Alonso on Schumacher, Hakkinen on Schumacher, Coulthard on Schumacher (in my case ANYONE on Schumacher) - and the reason those passes live so long in the memory is that they meant something. Overtaking has been difficult for decades now and these moves were born of supreme skill and bravery.
Now passes are ten a penny, and essentially meaningless, indicative of nothing but an artificially generated disparity in the downforce possessed by the two drivers.
Let's imagine a comparable initiative being introduced in football... Say FIFA felt that games were too low scoring and that defences had become too dominant. They decide to to increase the size of the goals: to - quite literally - move the goal posts.
As a result, games regularly finish 5-4, 6-5: scoring is no longer the challenge it was. Records are broken, hat-tricks are commonplace, thirty-yard strikes occurring several times in a match. Suddenly football becomes like basketball: scoring is metronomic, devalued. You can have too much of a good thing.
No true football fan would accept this. And that is why many fans of F1 are so uncomfortable with the DRS.
Personally, I would be happy if the cars just had KERS - the much maligned Kinetic Energy Recovery System - which provides a battery powered boost in horsepower for several seconds a lap. The driver is able to employ this at any point throughout the lap, unlike the DRS which is only available to them on a particular section of track, predetermined at the start of the grand prix weekend. So at least with KERS it is a fair fight: both drivers have use of the system throughout the race, and can employ it for defence as well as attack. With the DRS system, the driver in front is effectively a sitting duck. This was especially evident in Turkey this afternoon, where many of the passes were done and dusted before the cars even reached the braking zone for turn eleven.
Tyres
The other major change this year involves the tyres, with Pirelli replacing Bridgestone as sole supplier.
Although I'm broadly supportive of the moves Pirelli have made to spice up the racing with high tyre degradation, I have reservations. Michael Schumacher claimed this week that the new regulations meant that the fastest drivers were rewarded with the results they deserved. However, with so many pitstops necessary, the potential for a mechanic's error to knock his driver out of contention is increased significantly, and we saw a number of races compromised today by mistakes made during pitstops: not least Lewis Hamilton's.
Another drawback to the high level of tyre wear is the way in which it can - in certain circumstances - actually make exciting racing less likely. As Martin Whitmarsh pointed out following today's race: if a driver is forced to be aggressive and make passes to make their strategy work, the tyres suffer even more than usual. The turbulent air coming off the car in front reduces their grip levels, making the tyres work harder, so, of course, they wear out sooner. In some cases, high tyre wear could actually discourages a driver from making a pass: having precisely the opposite effect that it was designed to produce.
We were promised that different driving styles would have more of an impact this year as a result of the new Pirellis. It was felt that drivers who were easy on their tyres, such as Jenson Button, might have an advantage at some tracks and be able to make less pitstops than their rivals. However, this has not really materialised. The tyre wear seems somewhat arbitrary, driving style having little effect, either positively or negatively, unless a driver is particular reckless or flat spots a tyre under breaking.
There is no doubt that the changes made to the sports regulations have increased the amount of overtaking. In theory, the sport is indeed now more exciting. But scratch the surface and it becomes apparent that the racing we are watching lacks a certain degree of authenticity.
The casual fans may be sated, but F1's rulemakers must be wary of alienating their core fan-base.
Of course it is still early days for both DRS and Pirelli and next season will no doubt see further development. It remains to be seen whether the changes will be of benefit to the sport in the long term.
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