2010 FIA Formula One Shake Up

Last year when the FIA announced their massive rule changes for 2009 things looks set to really shake up the established order of things. And, as we enter the end of the first trimester of the season, I'd say that the predictions were correct. 

Now, recently the FIA has announced  a planned budget cap to take effect for the 2010 season. For established teams this means neutering their ability to outspend the young upstarts... which has typically worked. But, a change like this spending cap , especially coming so quickly on the heals of a major rules shake up, could destabilize the established order of things permanently. For young hopefuls the budget cap represents a dropping of the red velvet rope to a club that they've long since we denied entry. Could new teams establish entry into the exclusive world of Formula One and make a big enough impact to run to the front? And for sponsors, since budget caps mean a limit on spending, will this open up a new breed of sponsor to international exposure? Are we about to see a return of the privateer to the pinnacle of motorsport?

Following the completion of the applications process for teams to compete in the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship, the following teams have been confirmed.

SCUDERIA FERRARI MARLBORO

SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO

RED BULL RACING

AT&T WILLIAMS

FORCE INDIA F1 TEAM

CAMPOS GRAND PRIX

MANOR GRAND PRIX 

TEAM US F1 

VODAFONE McLAREN MERCEDES* / McLAREN MERCEDES

BMW SAUBER F1 TEAM* / BMW SAUBER

RENAULT F1 TEAM* / RENAULT

PANASONIC TOYOTA RACING* / TOYOTA

BRAWN GP FORMULA ONE TEAM* / BRAWN TBA 

*These five teams have submitted conditional entries which the FIA has invited them to lift following further discussions to be concluded not later than close of business on Friday 19 June.

The maximum number of cars permitted to enter the 2010 Championship has been increased to 26, two being entered by each competitor. Pending completion of the discussions referred to above, further due diligence is currently taking place on other potential entries. And those people are:

Windsor/Anderson - USF1

Prodrive

Lola

Litespeed

Campos Meta 1

Epsilon Euskadi 

Formtech

Superfund

N.Technology

Jenson Button - 6th Win of the Season

Jenson Button made it six victories in seven races as he stormed away from his only serious challengers - the Red Bulls of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel during the GP Turkey in Istanbul on Sunday afternoon. Over the short haul, probably only Trulli's Toyota and Rosberg's Williams could have possibly held pace with the leading RBR and Brawn squads. 

Notably off the pace was professional sidekick Rubens Barrichello. Rubeno's miserable afternoon included unnecessarily tangling with Kovalainen, a spin, nose damage after a collision with Sutil, and thankfully retiring after 47 laps. The GP world is talking about the retirement as the first noticeable chink in Brawn's reliability but I think they just asked him to pull over and stop embarrassing himself.

Go ahead, get your Twitter on and check out the coverage from both Jalopnik's & Brawn GP's live micro/bloggin'. I wonder how the FIA will try to stifle such unregulated coverage! 

Stay tuned - we're heading to Maggots, Woodcote, and the Hangar Straight;  Silverstone is next.

Round 7 Turkish Grand Prix | Watch the Kerbs

*** UPDATE ***

Qualifying is complete:

Sebastian Vettel | RBR-Renault | 1:28.316

Jenson Button | Brawn-Mercedes | 1:28.421

Rubens Barrichello | Brawn-Mercedes | 1:28.579

What to Watch - the Kerbs:

As a relatively new facility the track surface at Istanbul is in good condition and the kerbs are not especially aggressive, which makes it quite straightforward to find a stable car balance. The team will seek a compromise between stiffer settings for the high-speed part of the lap to give a good change of direction, and softer settings for the low-speed section, particularly the final few corners to ensure good mechanical grip. The stewards and Monaco were relatively lax on the F1 drivers kerb cutting - in stark contrast to their treatment of the lower formula drivers on the same day. Different town, different stewards but the rumor is that all teams (especially Ferrari) have been warned that 4-Off penalties will be handed out if drivers cut the kerbs to excess. The ruling is that at least one tire must remain within contact of the road surface. It'll be interesting to see if the less aggressive kerbs in Turkey exacerbate the attack angles or just make the rules harder to enforce.

Rule Change Analysis ::: Diffusers

As previously mentioned, the 2009 rules changes were meant to be game changers, a technical shake up intent on leveling the playing field if only by clearing the board and making everyone start from a fresh sheet of paper. 

At its heart, one of the key tools the regulations employ is reducing the effect of aero wake on following cars - so that cars can travel closer with less loss of downforce... all of which should allow for more passing at the entry or exit of corners and overall tighter grids. And, by looking at the cars you can see the wildly increased front wings vastly out proportioning the scaled down rear wings. But, what you can't see are the diffusers - and that's where some of the real technical gains have clawed back performance gains from losses suffered by the new regulations.

Brawn GP have a cunning interpretation of the rules, one that allows for greater diffuser efficiency by employing more complex rear sections that actually incorporate suspension, floor, and rear crash structures to create  a double decker diffuser. And, because great minds think alike Toyota and Williams also debuted similar twin floor concepts. 

Diffusers Explained:

1.The key role of the diffuser on a modern racecar is to accelerate the flow of air under the car, creating an area of low pressure, thus increasing downforce. Meaning, the shaped piece of bodywork at the rear of the car draws the air out from under the car sucking it to the track, creating aerodynamic grip.

2.How's it work: the air passing under the wing has further to travel than the air passing over the top surface. This causes the air under the wing to accelerate, resulting in a drop in air pressure, this creates a difference in pressure between the upper and lower surfaces. This difference essentially means the wing is pushed down by the higer pressure above, generating what is known as downforce.

3. With this in mind, the role of the diffuser on a racing car is to speed the airflow up underneath the car, reducing its pressure, creating a greater difference in pressure between the upper and lower surfaces of the car. This means more downforce and aerodyamic grip, allowing the car to corner faster.

These rules are not unique to the so called "Double Decker" diffusers, they apply to all teams' interpretations of the regulations and have been in use since Lotus started the ground effects movement. But, given their greater efficiency are double decker diffusers the killer app for F1 2009? In a word, "NO". Were it that simple, Toyota would have considerably more than 26 points and Williams would be placed higher than 8th in the Constructors Standings. 

NKOTB, Brawn GP are dominant

So, I've been remiss. We are already 5 races into the 2009 F1 Season and nary a blog post since Aug of last year. A number of things transpired to cancel my trip to Watkins Glen last year and shipwrights disease  set in. Let's see if I can remedy that...

F1 Recap: it's now post-Race #5, the circus is back in Europa, and Brawn are in the lead. Wha?" Don't know who Brawn is? 

Well, to sum it up, Brawn is formerly Honda, now powered by Mercedes, and purchased by Michael Schumacher's former Technical Director (at Benetton & Ferrari) Ross Brawn for a dollar (or some such nonsense). Spoiled-brat-turned-golden-boy, Jenson Button is 4-for-5 in a completely unprecedented, unforeseen championship lead. Team mate Rubens Barrichello is, typically for RB, second to his team mate but still an impressive second in the championship. Remember, these folks were the 9th placed team in 2008, 8th in 2007, and 4th in 2006... so they've been sliding backward for some time. Of course, Brawn has a history of technical and strategic wizardry and rules revisions for 2009 were intended to be game changers... 

Over the next bit of posts I'll explore some of the changes in those rules, some of the advantages that Brawn GP have achieved, and try to remind you that although Brawn have command over the season thus far, every race has been well contested and we've not seen the in-race, runaway dominance of previous seasons. 

We're now into the European leg of the F1 season, typically this is where the largest technical advances are introduced - stay tuned.