2010 Formula One Season

Well it’s about time I started writing this blog again as the 2010 Formula One season is here, well it’s near anyways!

At the moment most of the established teams have had their car launches and I’ll be looking in depth at each of the teams in terms of car designs, driver line-ups and expectations for the coming season.

The 2010 Season has a few major changes compared to previous seasons and these will change the way a race is run. Gone is refuelling. Cars are banned from refuelling during races which means they will need to carry enough fuel to finish the race plus excess in case of unforseen circumstances. This means it’s all about fuel efficiency this year and engines will have been designed to burn the least amount of fuel as possible while still putting out as much power they can. Speaking of engines Mercedes-Benz and Ferrari will both be supplying 3 teams with engines while the 4 new teams and surprisingly Williams will have Cosworth engines. The Cosworth engines look to be the weakest in terms of power and fuel efficiency and F1 insiders are already predicting they will be between two to three seconds per lap off the pace of the frontrunners.

(no more accidents and malfunctions with fuel rigs)

Along with refuelling being banned the wheel covers that Ferrari pioneerd have been banned. These covers would direct air straight into the brake pads to help cool them down and allow for heavier breaking by the drivers. The problems with the covers is that when installed incorrectly during pitstops they can become disloged and even lead to the tires not being fitted correctly.

(no more "pushing the button")

KERS has been banned this year, sort of. All teams have agreed not to use it as its costs and added weight did not end up paying off for most teams and made the racing uneven when cars with KERS stayed ahead of faster cars without it by ‘pushing the button’.

KERS however is still legal under FIA rules and it will be interesting to see if any teams turn their back on FOTA’s agreement and start to use it.

The last major change is the points system. Because of the new teams and larger grid the points system has been expanded to reward the top 10 placed cars instead of 8. The system is now as follows.

1^st 25 points

2^nd 18

3^rd 15

4^th 12

5^th 10

6^th 8

7^th 6

8^th 4

9^th 2

10^th 1

This of course is going to lead to numerous records being broken from this season forward. Michael Schumacher currently holds the record for most points scored in a calendar season at 148 in the 2004 Formula One season. If this current points system were in place for that season he would have finished with 367 points!

Check back soon for specific team previews starting with Mercedes GP Petronas Formula One Team (they could have had a shorter name, really).