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Comment by pertymcpert | Hacker News Reader

Traction control removes of the most fundamental skills of a driver. It’s like allowing ABS.

What I do find interesting is GT3 cars have both ABS and traction control these days and they have great racing. I believe prototypes have TC but no ABS. I realize the mix of talent is much different, especially in GT3 where there are Pro/AM teams and stuff like that, but I'm not sure TC makes that big of a difference on the racing. I don't think ABS should ever be allowed in open wheel as it inspires too much risk taking in overtakes. The whole reason NA F1 revved so high was partially to help keep the power band reasonable exiting slow corners.

As you say, the driver skill is very different between F1 and GT3. If traction control was allowed in F1, the teams would not settle for something like in GT3, it would become an arms race. In the end we might end up with racing determined by who has the best control algorightms, and not who has the best dirver/chassis.

I mean sure if you want the best racing you want a complete spec series. The point being that you'd make the cars as close as possible in times so they they're all bunched together. Adding TCS and ABS would then compress the delta that driver skill creates so you'd compress the field further. Then fully automatic gearboxes and auto-steer would make it even closer.

But F1 is not just about good racing. One of its USP is that it has the world's best drivers. I think that's mostly but not entirely true due to the presence of pay drivers like Stroll.

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