APS Racing Products - Are 2008 Formula 1 cars slower than past generation cars because of safety/other regulations?

Are 2008 Formula 1 cars slower than past generation cars because of safety/other regulations?

With all the FIA regulations, are new generation Formula 1 cars slower than past generation?

Public Comments

Not slower but they could be a lot faster if it weren't for stupid safety rules they've set up.
every time the FIA change a rule to try to slow the cars down the engineers and designers find another way to make them faster again.
It is believed they will be the same speed at the start of 2008 that they were at the end of 2007. Here are the things slowing them down - loss of driver aids such as traction control and engine braking. Probably loses each team 1.0-2.0 seconds per lap. Here are the things speeding them up + Every team has a new car with new ideas. This should be worth 0.5-1.0 second per team + The End of 2007 nearly 6 months ago, thats a lot of development time. Expect them to find 0.5 seconds in that period
its hard to predict yet what is going to happen this year...if Ferrari's recent test at the Bahrain circuit is any indication of whats to come then they might be faster,Ferrari broke the record by nearly a second from last year,but logically they should be slower due to the ban on traction controls
'08 cars are definately slower than they should be thanks to the regulations that are constantly introduced each year(under the guise of safety and reducing F1 team spending). A lot of us fans have a strong hunch that the constant regulation updates have to do with helping Ferrari to stay ahead of the rest as they are usually the best at reacting to the changes and the regs almost always seem to be made to measure for Ferrari. However the '08 cars are as fast, if not faster than any F1 cars that have gone before them.
Well Kimi made a lap record in bareihn so nope.
Well the absence of Traction Control and Engine braking system will make it technically slower. I'm pretty unsure about the absence of EBS which essentially makes the car unstable. The drivers cannot brake hard else their rear wheels will lock. The approach to a curve has to be gentler due to the absence of traction control. So yes if not the cars themselves but the drivers will make it a bit slower i guess. But then these are 22 highly talented drivers they will find their way :) Anyways the idea that drivers are in charge sounds good.