In our end-of-year big debate, we look at the undoubtedly seismic impact the introduction of DRS and more aggressive control tyres, along with the reintroduction of KERS, had on the racing spectacle this season and ask whether the package of rules is the right template for Formula 1’s future
We present the case for both sides and, as ever, invite you to join the debate via the comments box below…
F1 2011 WAS THE RIGHT TEMPLATE FOR THE SPORT'S FUTURE
In 2010, Formula 1 produced arguably its most exciting ever title battle, yet how many of the races that shaped that contest were tedious processions settled by pit stops or qualifying results?
Most of them, to be frank.
In 2011, one man utterly ran away with the season, winning over half the races, taking pole on the majority of Saturdays, and scoring 122 points more than anyone else.
And yet we saw several races decided by last-gasp, or even last-lap, overtaking moves, and more passing than for decades.
Compare the Sebastian Vettel-dominated 2011 season to the Michael Schumacher-dominated 2002 and 2004 seasons, and the difference is huge – and the main reason for that is because with Pirelli's deliberately entertaining approach to tyre design, and the presence of KERS and DRS, these days F1 actually cares about giving its fans something fun to watch.
If you see F1 as purely about the pursuit of technical excellence, then the 2011 tweaks will be depressing, because they were all about adding artificial complications to the racing in the interests of spicing things up.
But a totally purist-friendly F1 cannot be an entirely successful F1, as for a sport to thrive it must get a casual audience talking about it.
F1 has more of a need to entertain than many sports because it does not have the accessibility factor – you can kick a football around yourself, you can't grab an F1 car and race friends around your nearest ring road.
It has an element of remoteness, the best way to get over that is to generate as many storylines, rivalries and intrigues as possible, and the best way to achieve that is to make the on-track action as spectacular as possible.
It didn't always work, of course.
There were races where predictions of wild Pirelli-inspired action failed to come to pass because the tyres proved more durable than expected as the circuit 'gripped-up' over the weekend, and there were rather a lot of tracks where DRS zones weren't quite right and either had little effect or made things too easy.
But the most encouraging aspect about F1 2011 was the sport's willingness to experiment, learn, and try again.
When Pirelli felt it had gone too far with tyre softness and pit stops were just too frequent, it backed off a bit – then promised to ramp up the thrill-and-spill level again for 2012 when it became clear it was now being too conservative.
Similarly the experimentation with the placing of DRS zones, and whether each track had one or two, showed just how much F1 is striving to get its product right at the moment.
And that's the most important thing to take from F1 2011: yes, not all the new ideas worked at every race, but the sport learned from every choice it made, and will use that knowledge to fine-tune the package for 2012 and beyond.
F1 2011 was great, but the most exciting parts of the Pirelli/DRS/KERS era are surely yet to come.
F1 2011 WAS NOT THE WAY FORWARD FOR THE SPORT
Ask the average member of the public what they remember of the 2011 Formula 1 season, and they're likely to say that one bloke won all the races, or mention Lewis Hamilton's ex-girlfriend.
Will many occasional fans rave about the quality of the wheel-to-wheel racing generated by DRS, Pirelli and KERS?
Probably not - the headlines they read will just focus on Vettel triumphing again and again.
How hard he had to work for it and whether the winning margins were tiny are only really relevant to the hardcore fans.
The big problem this year was that F1 risked making itself look silly to appeal to an audience who weren't really interested, while upsetting its most loyal supporters by trivialising the quality of racing.
Can a pass made inevitable by one driver being close enough behind another to trigger a trick system that his rival was unable to use really be considered a 'proper' pass?
And likewise, what talent does it take for one driver to breeze past another because they are on fresh Pirellis and their opponent's rubber has done a dozen laps and is now several seconds slower?
Most F1 fans like to see a 'proper' contest, and won't get too excited about contrived racing and drama generated not by fluctuations in team or driver form, but by rules only a few steps shy of the random sprinkler system and short-cuts Bernie Ecclestone has occasionally proposed.
And for a casual viewer, the 2011 quirks were just too convoluted to be entertaining.
Typically for F1, its logic did not translate well to the outside world, and this year's rules package was likely to make non-hardcore viewers frown with confusion so much they barely had time to be entertained.
You could almost hear the questions being asked from non-expert viewers: Why were the tyres fading so much, was Pirelli just rubbish? Why isn't the driver in front allowed to use his wing thing too? Why is there only one place they can use the wing thing on Sunday when they could use it everywhere yesterday?
There were a handful of grands prix where the balance with the new rules was just right, but many more where either passing became too easy and it was all a blur of total confusion that left you with no idea how anyone had ended up where they finished, and quite a few races where Pirelli and the FIA were too cautious and the racing was just as static as it had been pre-2011.
And whatever the rules tried to do, by mid-season things were settling into a very predictable pattern: Red Bull in front, McLaren giving chase, Ferrari (or at least Fernando Alonso) next up and sometimes able to get in the middle, then Mercedes on their own, Force India on their own, and a bit of a jumble of Saubers, Williams, Toro Rossos and Renaults in the bit of the field that no one save the die-hards really cares about.
Well done to F1 for trying something different this year, it was a worthy aim.
But the main lesson of F1 2011 is that the package is not quite right, and something needs to be adjusted to make F1 accessible and appealing for occasional fans without leaving the loyal purists frustrated, because this year neither group was well-served.