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Do professional racers use traction control12/16/2023 When Nicola Larini substituted for Jean Alesi early in the season the press went into a frenzy after he made a remark about switching off the car’s traction control system. The Benetton of Michael Schumacher which had beaten Senna in the first two rounds contained a traction control function that had not been purged from its systems and instead lay, conspiratorially enough, behind a blank menu labelled ‘option 13’.īenetton were not the only ones to face accusations of cheating. Indeed, many believe it played a role on that fateful day in Imola when Senna was killed. The impact the banning of traction control had was complicated, and not at all as straightforward as simply ‘improving the racing’ as many expected. Nevertheless they were eventually banned, one year later, by which time Senna was on his way to Williams. Senna wanted traction aids and the likes of active suspension and forthcoming innovations such as anti-lock brakes banning because rivals Williams had perfected them, and his team McLaren had not. Of course, Senna was not acting out of any high moral purpose to preserve the integrity of motor racing – although it is likely that he believed his own talents would be compromised by electronics that allowed the less skilful to elicit traction from a car as well as he did. Many F1 fans were pleased when the news broke two weeks ago that traction control was being kicked out of the sport.īut this is not the first time that traction control has been banned – last time it happened all kinds of problems arose, not least of which safety, policing and politics.Ī popular anecdote about the latter stages of Ayrton Senna’s career concerns the Christmas card he sent to Max Mosley in 1992, in which he implored the FIA President to ban driver aids.
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