McLaren duo Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton say that critics complaining about there being too much overtaking in Formula 1 should back off in their downbeat assessment of the sport.
The new DRS, the return of KERS and Pirelli's rubber have all contributed to a much more exciting F1 in 2011, and that has helped produce races with more passing moves than have been seen for many years. Although their frequency has prompted questions about whether or not the purity of F1 has been taken away, Button and Hamilton are adamant that what is being seen now is better than they have known it in the past.
"Ask the public what they think, that is the best answer," explained Button. "They are the people that matter and I think they love the racing.
"Everyone is so positive. They said China was the best race they've seen, and then Turkey was the best race ever. It is like it was with the '80s. We are doing something right and we should not be negative about it."
Hamilton added: "People love to see carnage and overtaking, and wheel-to-wheel battles, with smoke coming off when drivers are touching and passing. They don't like to see people following in the train, and the new rules are enabling us to do it.
"They [the new rules] do help, as in the past as fast as you could be, you just could not get close enough to capitalise on it. Whatever you did you were always in the bad air and you could not really race them. It enables you to take opportunity of the true pace of cars and I quite like it."
Button also did not think that the tire rules – and the way drivers were having to look after their rubber so much – risked making F1 too slow.
"The viewer doesn't know if we do a 1m24s or a 1m35s. It is a show. We need viewers to exist and the viewers have gone through the roof this year. We haven't done anything wrong; we've gone in the right direction."