2009 Formula One Preview

The teams have all launched their cars. The drivers for each team have been decided and the testing has finally finished. All that’s left is for the season to begin. But first here is a break down of what’s been going on and how it may effect the season to come.

Honda Turns Into Brawn

The sensation over winter has been the fact that Honda pulled out of Formula One. To everyone’s relief they have been bought out by Ross Brawn and his company to set up Brawn GP using Honda’s car with A McLaren engine. What is even more surprising is that in the week and a half of testing they had before flying away to Australia they were consistently the team to beat. Often posting times a whole second quicker than rivals. Although this may be an exaggerated advantage due to fuel loads and different types of testing runs they appear poised to spring a major surprise down under.

Testing

The other sensation over the winter testing has simply been how slow McLaren were. With rumors they are really off the pace we will have to wait and see. But all indicators are that they are struggling with their aero package. Especially their rear wing, which was only just introduced at the end of testing. Was it failing crash testing or breaking under stress loads? McLaren did an extra couple of days testing at the end in which they seemed to improve marginally. But I think the weather played a part in that. It waits to be seen if this improvement is enough to get them into the hunt for race wins and the championship.

Points Change

The one other thing which came out of the blue was the decision to decide the world drivers championship by who wins the most races. If tied then it's decided on points. This will no doubt have a series of knock on effects. If it will improve the racing is anyone's guess. But the world championship could be decided by mid season or several drivers could be going for the championship at the final race. Drivers will probably take bigger risks to win races and teams will no doubt have to favour one driver almost from the start of the championship.

Rule Changes

The rule changes for Formula One this season are also quite substantial. Here the main points:

* Slick tyres have been introduced so as the be able to have more mechanical grip and also allow the FIA and the tyre makers to standardise and regulate the tyres and thus speed. Tyre development in previous years has contributed to nearly two seconds a lap increase in speed. Which in Formula One terms is a lot. So this way they can controll this development and the cars speed easier.

* Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) has been introduced. KERS recovers the kinetic energy generated by the car’s stopping. This energy is stored in the car and then made available to the driver, in a set amount each lap, via a ‘button’ on the steering wheel. Currently the power gain equates to about 80 horsepower, which is available for about seven seconds a lap. This could make the lap times quicker by a couple of tenths. However this has to be off set by the extra weight the KERS is. Thus it is not known if all the teams will run the new system at some or all of the races.

* Aerodynamics have been greatly altered so as to limit air disturbance and to allow cars to get closer at high speeds. This in turn will hopefully mean more overtaking. This has been done by making the rear wing much smaller and making illegal any 'winglets'. ie the small wings on the cars and barge boards. Also the front wing is now larger and the width of the car. The wing can also be adjusted by the driver twice a lap up to an angle of 6 degrees.

* Testing rules have changed as well. Testing is not allowed during the season and is limited to 15,000 kilometres.

* Safety Car pit opening rules have changed so as to allow drivers to pit while the safety car is out. This is to stop drivers running out of petrol or pitting illegally and getting stop go penatys. The make sure drivers don't race dangerously back to the pits while there is a safety car out (as was why the banning of pitstops was originally introduced). The electronic Control Unit (ECU) onboard will now givethe driver a minimum ‘back to pit’ time based on his GPS position on track. If he arrives in the pit lane before then he will be penalised, probably through a stop go penalty.

* Race wins will now decide the drivers world championship. The title will be awarded to the driver with the most race wins. The rest of the standings, from second to last place, will be decided by the current points system. If more than one driver finishes the season with the same number of wins, the title will be awarded to the driver with the most points as was the system previously. The constructors’ championship will remain the same.

With so many changes taking place it is wide open as to how this Formula One season pans out. More so than I can remember in many years... I just hope it is as exciting as the last two seasons... I fear it won't be.