What does the 60th year of the world's biggest motorsport spectacle hold for you? We have the answers.
Bernie Ecclestone and Max Mosley’s antics notwithstanding, Formula 1 remains the one single motorsport event that attracts maximum eyeballs the world over. For us in India, it has become even more personal, with Force India cars rubbing paint with the big boys and with the Tata logo up on the two Ferraris as well. This year’s F1 season, as expected, has some big changes — changes that promise to make for closer and more exciting racing. Here’s what you need to know about the teams and the new rules before you turn on the telly.
McLaren-Mercedes
Ron Dennis’s exit as team principal seems to have been a bad omen for the team that bagged the driver’s title in 2008. Seemingly dogged by aerodynamic issues in pre-season testing, the MP4-24 has been languishing at the bottom of the timing sheets, though towards the end of testing, McLaren did seem to iron out some of their problems. It should be interesting to see how champion Lewis Hamilton and team mate Heikki Kovalainen will fare over the first few races of the season. Hamilton is a blisteringly quick driver, while Kovalainen is a Grand Prix winner too, so between the two of them and McLaren’s extensive resources, the team should be able to pull a couple of rabbits out of their hat and emerge at the front.
Ferrari
F1’s most popular team missed out on the driver’s title at the very last moment by a single point in last year’s nail-biting season finale, but they did wrap up the constructor’s championship. This year, in testing, the Ferrari F60 has always been at the sharp end of the timings despite some issues with their KERS (See box: Formula changes) system. Nevertheless, the scarlet squad will be one of the front runners this season as usual. After all, they have former world champion Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa; the cool Finn and the fiery Brazilian are two of the best drivers on the grid. Losing the driver’s title to Hamilton should give Raikkonen all the motivation he needs and after coming so agonisingly close to bagging double honours last year with Massa, expect the prancing horse to come out with all guns blazing this year.
BMW Sauber
BMW is the team that has gone from strength to strength over the last three seasons, getting points in the first, podiums in the second and a win in the third. Now, the Bavarian outfit has set its sights firmly on the world championship. Will they succeed? Well, they do not have the outright pace of their rivals, but they do have Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld, the former who won the Canadian Grand Prix last year and the latter being hugely talented and experienced. They were definitely consistent in 2008 and if they can add more pace to the equation, they might be the dark horses of 2009.
Renault
After a lacklustre first half of the 2008 season, double world champion Fernando Alonso silenced critics with two wins and other podium finishes. It seemed that Renault had finally managed to get its game together and were expected to carry the same form over to 2009. And despite early troubles with the car, it seems that Renault will finally get back at the front after two poor seasons, with Alonso shining at the Jerez test. Nelson Piquet had a dismal season last year and will be keen to prove that he can live up to the Piquet name. But Renault’s hopes are pinned firmly on Alonso and he can get the job done if Renault provide him with a consistently competitive car.
Toyota
Toyota hopes to end its winless reputation this season or Toyota officials have hinted that this might be their last year in F1. But the team is confident that it will be able to fight for wins this season with its TF109 piloted by Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock, both of whom turned in strong performance last year in an under-performing car. If the package around them is strong and consistent as the team believes, then both drivers, Trulli in particular, have really good chances against the rest of the front-runners.
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Scuderia Toro Rosso-Ferrari
Having won the Italian Grand Prix last year with Sebastian Vettel, the Italian red bulls have taken on two Sebastiens this year, Sebastien Bourdais and Sebastien Buemi, the youngest driver this year. In testing, the STR5 has not been performing too well, but it seems likely that Bourdais will be fighting for points on a regular basis. Buemi, on the other hand, has to prove himself in the tough conditions of F1 and will be under pressure to keep up with his team mate — at least in the second half of the season, if not right from the outset, though he might just do it.
Red Bull-Renault
David Coulthard might have left the driver’s seat at Red Bull, but he will definitely be on hand to coach Sebastian Vettel, the prodigious talent who outshone Ferrari and won the Italian Grand Prix last year. In addition, they also have Mark Webber, a talented driver who suffered a broken leg in a cycling accident early this year, but if he can get up to speed from the outset remains to be seen. All in all, this season is the one in which everyone expects Red Bull to charge up the mid-field.
Williams-Toyota
Williams, one of the oldest teams on the grid, will be hoping to move up the order this year, thanks to the revised rules which put everyone on a level playing field. Or it might just be another so-so season for the British outfit. Even Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima are quick, but not consistent enough to challenge for podiums. It will be interesting to see how Williams fare over the season, if they can manage to get some consistent pace out of their drivers/car combination.
Force India-McLaren Mercedes
Vijay Mallya’s car did well in the hands of Giancarlo Fisichella last year, but Adrian Sutil’s performance was far from satisfactory. With the switch from Ferrari to Mercedes engines, Mallya hopes to power the VJM02 up to more points finishes and hopefully, even podiums, if things go Force India’s way.
Brawn GP
This team is the shock of the season. Rising out of what was left of Honda after the Japanese giant quit F1, the car lapped a second quicker than all the other cars in the hands of Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello at the final test. Whether this is a flash in the pan or a genuine comeback, we shall know at the season opener at Albert Park in Australia.
| FORMULA CHANGES
Another season, another set of rule changes. The 60th season of F1 will be accompanied by reduced costs, new technology and removal of critical driver aids that will level the playing field and place more emphasis on driver ability than we have seen in the recent past. So, will these changes separate the men from the boys? Or will they only help widen the gap between machinery? Here’s what we think about the stuff that will make F1 tick. KINETIC ENERGY RECOVERY SYSTEM |
AERO MODS
No more winglets, louvers and the like on the side pods. Combined with heavily revised diffuser dimensions, narrower rear wings and FIA-homologated front wings, downforce is set to be reduced by up to 50 per cent. Moreover, aerodynamics are to be more overtaking-friendly. How? By allowing the driver to electronically adjust the angle of the front wing when the airflow around his car is being messed up by the car in front. But he’ll be able to do it only twice in a lap. Too much stuff to remember, we think.
SLICK TYRES
Slick tyres return after ten years to get a grip on things, 20 per cent more than their groovy cousins to be precise, in the interest of putting the focus on mechanical grip rather than aerodynamic grip. But this will be offset by the reduced downforce levels, and tyre warmers are also not allowed from this season onwards. Allied to the lack of traction and launch control, we’re likely to see more tyres lighting up and any driver trying to floor the throttle mid-corner is likely to execute a neat 360. We like.
ENGINES AND GEARBOXES
Engines will now need to last for three consecutive races, while gearboxes will need to last for four. Besides, standardised, FIA-approved ECUs will govern the electronics which will bridge the vast difference in the performance of cars across the F1 spectrum and also allow the FIA to snoop... er, monitor the performance of cars. The maximum rpm to which engines can be revved has been reduced from 19,000 rpm to 18,000 rpm, while engine change penalties remain the same.
BIOFUEL
A bunch of noisy F1 cars running around tracks all over the world ‘wasting’ precious fuel is bound to attract the attention of the eco-weenies, no? So, to pacify the tree-hugging brigade, F1 engines will have to run on blended fuel comprising 5.75 per cent of ethanol for which they will have to be made biofuel compliant. Just a matter of remapping the ECUs, experts say.
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SEASON CALENDAR March 29 Albert Park, Australian Grand Prix |
