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Solid proof of traction control was requested.
Answer none, because I can only listen and read what journalists choose to write. (And I can't spell)
I think the story started when a driver heard an engine missfirng as it came out of a slow corner where it was difficult to stop the wheels from spinning. The missfiring car never span its rear tyres but always missfired at that point. How does a driver operate a car throttle to make a modern computer controlled car misfire? Impossible unless faulty ignition or fueling.
I seem to recall it was Heinz Harold Frentzen who heard the missfire and there was a comment from Ferrari (Schue?) that Heinz was bringing the sport into disrepute by unsubstantiated accusations of traction control.
Traction control is when the rear wheel speed is monitered compared to the undriven wheels, then the engine is controlled to stop unnecessary wheelspin.
The concensus of opinion was that Ferrari where using the engine management computer to control the rate of increase of the revs of the engine. If the engine tries to accelerate at too fast a rate make it misfire to save fuel. When does an engine accelerate suddenly? Either when the rear tyres spin or the gearbox misses a gear. Floor the throttle on ice and imagine an engine that stops the revs going sky high that doesn't measure wheel speed but knows which gear its in, what the car speed is, the computer calculates the gear ratio, etc.
So it wasn't traction control (also like Mclaren's extra brake pedal, people using the pit lane rev limiter button to control max revs, etc) it was protecting the engine and transmission but had a useful sideffect that it was quicker out of slow corners. Thats why the FIA allowed Traction Control back again because the engineers would find a way round it legally. Lets not remember the team (Benneton?) that had software but claimed it wasn't used but was well hidden and not on the software menu, the FIA were inspecting computer menus at the time!
Does that help?
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