Quote:
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Originally Posted by homealone
The 2004 season starts this Sunday, there are new rules, new cars & new drivers.
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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 SundayÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šà ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢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‚ 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 heâ₠¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢s not a bad driver either. He was the German Formula 3 Champion in 2000 & was runner-up in F3000 - F1â₠¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢s feeder-series †“ in 2002. Up against team-mate Nick Heidfeld in winter testing he doesnÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šà ¬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‚ ‚¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢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₠™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.