Tag: Malaysian Grand Prix

F1 – 2009

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Well what do you know, the 2009 F1 season is just three days away, thought that I should get myself up to date with what’s happening in the world of F1

First up the Season Calander

Round    Date                                    Event                                         Circuit

  1.   27-29 March 2009       Australian Grand Prix            Albert Park, Mebourne
  2.  3-5 April 2009             Malaysian Grand Prix             Sepang International Circuit
  3. 17-19 April 2009         Chinese Grand Prix                 Shanghai International Circuit
  4. 24-26 April 2009         Bahrain Grand Prix                 Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir
  5. 8-10 May 2009            Spanish Grand Prix Montmelo, Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona
  6. 21-24 May 2009          Monaco Grand Prix                Monte-Carlo
  7.  5-7 June 2009              Turkish Grand Prix                 Istanbul Park
  8. 19-21 June 2009          British Grand Prix                   Silverstone
  9. 10-12 July 2009          German Grand Prix                 Nürburgring
  10. 24-26 July 2009          Hungarian Grand                    Prix Hungaroring
  11. 21-23 August 2009     European Grand Prix              Valencia Street Circuit
  12. 28-30 August 2009     Belgian Grand Prix                 Spa-Francorchamps
  13. 11-13 September 2009 Italian Grand Prix                  Autodromo Nazionale Monza
  14. 25-27 September 2009 Singapore Grand Prix            Singapore Street Circuit (night race)
  15. 2-4 October 2009        Japanese Grand Prix               Suzuka
  16. 16-18 October 2009    Brazilian Grand Prix               Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace, Interlagos, Sao Paulo
  17. 30 October – 1 November 2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Yas Island

Then we have the teams and the drivers

McLaren-Mercedes

Race drivers
1. Lewis Hamilton
2. Heikki Kovalainen
Test drivers
Pedro de la Rosa
Gary Paffett

Scuderia Ferrari

Race drivers
3. Felipe Massa
4. Kimi Raikkonen
Test drivers
Luca Badoer
Marc Gené

BMW Sauber F1 Team

Race drivers
5. Robert Kubica
6. Nick Heidfeld
Test drivers
Christian Klien 

Renault F1 Team

Race drivers
7. Fernando Alonso
8. Nelson Piquet Jnr.
Test drivers
Romain Grosjean

Toyota Racing

Race drivers
9. Jarno Trulli
10. Timo Glock
Test drivers
Kamui Kobayashi

Scuderia Toro Rosso

Race drivers
11. Sebastien Bourdais
12. Sebastien Buemi
Test drivers
Brendon Hartley

Red Bull Racing

Race drivers
14. Mark Webber
15. Sebastian Vettel
Test drivers
Brendon Hartley

Williams

Race drivers
16. Nico Rosberg
17. Kazuki Nakajima
Test drivers
Nico Hülkenberg

Force India F1 Team

Race drivers
18. Adrian Sutil
19. Giancarlo Fisichella
Test drivers
Vitantonio Liuzzi

Brawn GP

Race drivers
20. Jenson Button
21. Rubens Barrichello
Test drivers
TBC

Rules, rules and more rules 

Sporting

Drivers can only use eight engines during the (17-race) season. If they have to use a ninth engine they will have a ten-pace grid penalty at the first race where they use it, and further similar penalties will follow if additional engines are used.

The pit lane speed limit in qualifying and the race has been raised from 80kph (49.7mph) to 100kph (62.1mph).

All teams must declare the starting weights of their cars within two hours of qualifying finishing.

If a race starts behind the safety car, drivers must start the race on wet weather tyres.

The rules on what a team can do to a car which is starting the race from the pit lane have been changed – teams can now make changes to “improve driver comfort” and the driver may do a reconnaissance lap.

The rule preventing drivers from being able to pit during a safety car until permitted to do so has been scrapped.

The FIA will now appoint three stewards per race (instead of two), one of which will not have a vote. It may also appoint an advisor as it did in 2008 (Alan Donnelly).

The teams cannot do more than 15,000km of testing and may not test between the first race of the season and the last day of the year. There are two major exceptions: teams can do up to eight days of straight-line aerodynamics testing, and after the last race of the season they have three days in which they may test young drivers.

NB. Distribution of points remains the same as in 2008 (10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1) despite the FIA’s recent attempt to introduce a system where the driver with the most wins would become world champion.

Technical

Grooved tyres have been replaced by slicks. The tyres known as ‘standard wets’ last year are now called ‘intermediates’ and ‘extreme wets’ are called ‘wets’. At each race the softer of the two dry compounds available and the wet weather tyres will be marked with green rings.

Teams may use Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS) but it is not compulsory and they may run KERS and non-KERS cars at different races. KERS may give them a power boost of up to 400 kilojoules per lap which roughly equals 82bhp for 6.6 seconds, though the power could be used in different ways. If a driver abandons their cars its KERS must be switched off. KERS may be charged before the start of the race.

Engines may not exceed 18,000rpm (reduced from 19,000).

The cars’ front wings may be adjusted while the car is moving a maximum of twice per lap by a maximum of six degrees.

There are new restrictions on the aerodynamic shape of the cars: front wings may now be wider, rear wings are narrower and taller, and many of the winglets and flip-ups that used to be on the cars have been banned. Diffusers are more tightly limited in size and shape.

The cars must now have four onboard camera housings instead of two, so hopefully we should see more interested TV pictures this year!