Re: Formula One Motor Racing
 

Here is a quick guide to the new F1 season...

Race Weekends

Gone is private testing on Friday. Instead the bottom 6 teams will be allowed to run 3 cars in 2hr-long practice sessions.

Also out is the Friday qualifying session.

Replacing it is a 90-minute session split into two with just 2mins between each session. The 1st session follows the same format as the previous Friday qualifying: drivers will run in the finishing order of the last race (Suzuka 2003 for Melbourne 2004).

This session determines the running order of the 2nd session with the slowest driver going 1st.

With just 2mins separating each session those teams at the bottom, or any drivers who make a mess of the 1st session, will find themselves with just a few minutes to prepare for the season all-important session that determines Sundayââ‚Ã⠀šÃ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢s grid positions.

Teams like Minardi will therefore find themselves having to re-fuel & decide on their race strategy within minutes while the top teams like Ferrari will have much longer to go through the options.

Just like last year, when the drivers have completed their second qualifying run their cars will be impounded in parc ferme until Sunday morning.

Calendar

The F1 calendar has been extended to 18 races (there were 16 in 2003).

Back is the driversââ‚à ‚¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢ favourite Spa after a year-off and joining the calendar are 2 new venues in Bahrain (4 April) & China (26 September).

Technical

The One Engine Rule

The biggest change to this yearâ₠¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s technical regulations is the introduction of longer-life engines.

Put simply, a driver must use the same engine from the start of Friday practice to the end of the race.

Should he need a change at any point during the weekend, he will be penalised. If the change is made before qualifying, he will be dropped 10 places down the grid, after qualifying & he will have to start from the very back.

The change effectively means the lifespan of an F1 engine has been doubled from around 250 miles to nearer 500 miles.

Most engine manufacturers have managed to incorporate the changes into their existing engine architecture but Renault have decided to axe their revolutionary wide-angle power unit in favour of a more conventional layout.

Needless to say, the new regs are bound to play into the hands of those teams with good reliability records †“ such as Ferrari who did not suffer a single engine failure in a race last year.

Aerodynamics

The changes made to aerodynamics for 2004 are generally designed to increase sponsor visibility rather than curb performance.

The minimum sizes for the engine cover & rear wing endplates have been increased, giving teams more space to plaster their backersââ‚à ‚¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢ logos across the cars.

One other change has been made to the aero regs - the number of rear wing elements that teams are allowed to run has been reduced from 3 to 2.

Electronics

Launch control has been banned, a move that is likely to cost Renault most dearly as their system was widely regarded as the best in the pitlane last year.

Automatic gearshifting has also been outlawed, meaning drivers must now change up and down manually.

PERSONNEL

Zsolt Baumgartner †“ Minardi

While not necessarily †œnewâà ƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ã‚ÂÂ� to the F1 world, this 22-year-old deserves a welcome. In 2003 Baumgartner drove two races for Jordan (Hungary & Italy) to replace the injured Ralph Firman. He becomes the first Hungarian to race in the F1 World Championship.

Gianmaria Bruni †“ Minardi

Another driver who is not quite new having driven for Minardi in last yearâ₠¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s private test session on Fridays. The Italian impressed talent-spotter team boss Paul Stoddart who quickly snapped up †œGimmiâ € � for a full-time drive this year.

Giorgio Pantano †“ Jordan

This 27-year-old Italian is said to be bringing £3milli on with him to Jordan, but heââ‚ ¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢s not a bad driver either. He was the German Formula 3 Champion in 2000 & was runner-up in F3000 - F1ââ‚ ¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢s feeder-series †“ in 2002. Up against team-mate Nick Heidfeld in winter testing he doesnââ‚ƚ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢t seem to be a bad choice at all.

Christian Klien †“ Jaguar

Klien replaces Briton Justin Wilson at the Big Cat & the pressure will be on for him to produce the goods, or be chucked out like the previous incumbents. The 21-year-old Austrian brings $6million in sponsorship to the team, courtesy of energy drinks giant Red Bull. But heâ₠¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢s also quick. In his first test for the team at Valencia last year he was just 0.1s shy of Mark Webber†™s fastest lap.

Other Drivers (Musical Chairs)

Giancarlo Fisichella & Nick Heidfeld swapping seats apart, few drivers moved between teams during the winter break although Takuma Sato & Felipe Massa both find themselves back in race drives after spending 2003 testing.

Behind the scenes, however, there were a number of high-profile comings & goings.

Hardest hit were Renault, who lost technical director Mike Gascoyne to Toyota & aero boss John Iley to Ferrari. The latter replaces Nick Tombazis, who is moving to McLaren.

Renault promoted Bob Bell into Gascoyneââ‚à ƒâ€šÃ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢s old role while they have lured Rob White from Cosworth to take charge of their Viry-Chatillon engine operation.

James Robinson, formerly of BAR, is Jordan†™s new engineering director.

Goodbye to:

Heinz-Harald Frentzen has said goodbye to F1 to embark on a new career in the DTM while Jacques Villeneuve is taking a yearâ₠¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s sabbatical. Jos Verstappen & Justin Wilson also find themselves out in the cold, after losing out on drives at Jordan & Jaguar respectively.

On the technical side, Ferrari engineer Pino dâ₠¬ÃƒÆ’¢â€žÂ¢Agostino has quit to take up a new role at Fiat while BMW boss Gerhard Berger has also formally quit the sport. Jordan engineering boss Gary Anderson has gone into semi-retirement.

Toyota team boss Ove Andersson has stood down, & his duties will now be carried out by chairman Tsutomu Tomita.

Re: Formula One Motor Racing
 

I read in the paper at the weekend that, because of the switch to only being allowed to use 1 engine from qualifying onwards, if someone crashes during qualifying they will have to have the engine transferred to the spare car - should be interesting if they hit a tyre barrier and end up with the engine on their lap :spin:

Re: Formula One Motor Racing
 

Actually I thought Sundays World Superbike race in Valencia was a bit 'ordinary', (good for Toseland, though ) - but in general I agree with you. :)

Re: Formula One Motor Racing
 

excellent :tu:


i assume the gearboxes are still paddle shift jobs , and not stick shift like they used to be :)

Re: Formula One Motor Racing
 

IVe not watched in the last two years. Got fed up with the predicatability of it all. I signed up for NASN and am now an avid NASCAR fan, close racing 43 cars in a race and different winners every week, you cant beat it. Takes a while to understand the lingo and the tactics though but well worth it in the end.

Re: Formula One Motor Racing
 

funny , i thought the same , maybe it was the rain that calmed it down a bit :shrug:


@ gary_580 , i dont mind nascar myself , i wouldnt pay for nasn to watch it though , there is a fair amount of it on motors tv on sky digi :)

Re: Formula One Motor Racing
 

NTL dont do Motors TV. I dont mind paying for it because the race is on live which is good sunday evening entertainment. Plus i watch a lot of hockey and baseball too. I think NASN is probably watched in our house for about 40-50 hours a week which is pretty good value entertainment for £9.99

Re: Formula One Motor Racing
 

put that way then you are not wrong , i had a feeling about the ntl not having that channel thing :(

Re: Formula One Motor Racing
 

yeah, the wind didn't help, either, very difficult conditions for the riders.

Nascar, hmmm, I just don't like watching racing on oval tracks, I can see the appeal to others, but I prefer say Laguna Seca and Nascar don't do that.

Re: Formula One Motor Racing
 

NASCAR only do 2 road circuits which is silly really as ive seen many driver interviews where they say the enjoy the chaleenge of road circuits. Trouble is road circuits arent as good for the spectators that are there. (or is it the rednecks that just dont understand turning right?)

Re: Formula One Motor Racing
 

A hybrid course, like they did at Indianapolis for F1 would be ok.:)

Re: Formula One Motor Racing
 

One snippet from the new regulations that I was already aware of, should make interesting reading to those who denigrated the performance of automatic gearshift in the thread on the topic.

Automatic gearshifting has also been outlawed, meaning drivers must now change up and down manually.

Or, the cars that have fully automatic transmission have a speed/ acceleration advantage, therefore it has been removed.

Re: Formula One Motor Racing
 

was it just me , or did the tv coverage seem a lot better at indianapolis last year , compared to other circuits :shrug:

Re: Formula One Motor Racing
 

it's a good thing, I reckon, putting more onus on the drivers skill, not the software engineers.

Now if they would also ban carbon brakes & thus get the braking distance into the corners extended, we might see more competitive racing that way, too.:)

Re: Formula One Motor Racing
 

And they should make them wear leather flying helmets and goggles.