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"Since Sebastian Vettel&amp;#039;s dominating win at the Singapore Grand Prix there has been a scramble to explain how he might have been able crush his opposition so thoroughly. Everyone recognizes the German&amp;#039;s speed, but a two second per lap advantage over his closest rivals hints at something more than just raw talent.  Speculation has been rampant, both in the specialized press and on internet fan forums, sparked by comment from former Formula 1 team owner Giancarlo Minardi who at trackside in Singapore noticed how Vettel&amp;#039;s car was the only one making a very particular noise in the corners. Later Autosprint, Italy&amp;#039;s leading racing magazine published this video, where the sound can be heard clearly. Click here to view the Autosprint video at Autosprint.  The sound combined with a distinct advantage over everyone else in being able to get on the power early, fueled speculation Red Bull had found a clever new way to control traction.  There were suggestions the ratcheting sound meant Red Bull were &amp;quot;blowing&amp;quot; the exhausts (a common practice in the past, but not allowed by the rules anymore) and burning fuel in the headers to keep the exhaust flow energized and providing downforce on the off throttle. This is simply not a realistic hypothesis. The rules are very specific with respect to these practices: when the driver is off the gas, the engine butterflies have to be closed. All teams use a common ECU, and Red Bull&amp;#039;s software has been combed over by the FIA following protests from other teams. What Renault was given, back in 2011 was a dispensation from F1 technical director Charlie Whiting to be able to cut cylinders, up to four at the time. Renault claimed it needed to do this for reliability and that is likely what you are hearing in the clip: an engine map which makes use of that ability. You can argue cutting cylinders mid-corner and then bringing them back gradually is a form of traction control, but as long as there is no connection between actual wheelspin and engine modulation, it&amp;#039;s not illegal. Another theory, given credence by an article in Racecar Engineering, involves the clever use if the KERS battery charging phase to control torque. F1 rules are specific with the amount of energy batteries can store, how much and for how long it can be dispensed to the drivetrain, but there is no specific requirement as to when it can be charged. While one would assume energy is recovered under braking, Racecar Engineering thinks Red Bull may be do some of the charging on the power-on phase, perhaps controlled by sensors on the shock absorbers. A compressed shock would presume high traction and allow full power while an extended shock would indicate a low traction state and bring in KERS harvesting to decrease torque.  As tantalizing as these theories are, the fact remains Red Bull&amp;#039;s designers have come up with something which works, but only works perfectly with Sebastian Vettel around whose particular abilities the RB9 was built around. Vettel is able to exploit the car fully while his teammate Webber, for whatever reason, is not able to do so consistently.  That, love it or hate it, is what Formula One is about: pushing the rules to optimize the package. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.roadandtrack.com/motorsports/news/a5646/red-bull-traction/>