Planet 9

Summarized at pitpass - the latest, hottest F1, GP2, GP2 Asia & A1GP news Apparently we are to have a two tier system with different rules for different teams depending on budget cap or no budget cap choices that they make. My bet is that will be a big fight between the FOTA (who will be split themselves) and the FIA. For me the different rules for different budget caps is more foolish gimmickry. If it happens will the different rules result in something like ALMS with different car classes or will they still be somewhat matched?

"the changes are as follows:

The minimum weight of the car plus driver is to be increased from 605kg to 620kg
Refuelling during a race is banned
Tyre warmers are banned
As expected, those teams that opt for the budget £40m cap will be allowed far greater technical freedom, including:

No limit on the number of engines used during the season (non budget cap teams limited to 8 a season)
No rev limit (non budget cap teams limited 18,000 rpm)
No limit on the number of gearboxes used during the season (non budget cap teams limited to 1 for every 4 races)
Movable front and rear wings (non budget cap teams allowed movable front wing only)
KERS boost doubled (non budget cap teams limited to same amount of boost as in 2009)
No limit on out-of-season testing (non budget cap teams limited to 15,000 km)
Unlimited use of full scale windtunnel (non budget cap teams limited to 60% full size model, at a speed not exceeding 50 metres per second)"

I don;t know if there will be different classes... But they are adding more teams too, We know there is an American team coming, as well as a potential Chinese team as well.

Would LOVE to see a Porsche Team , running the Porsche V8 Engine!

But man the big 3 are Really going to have a hard time skirting around so little budget.

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refueling during race banned? How many liters will the new tank be?

Its because they are now Hybryds and get 30 mpg

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Some F1 pundits have calculated that doubling the KERS capability for the budget teams will add 120 hp over the non-budget teams. That will change the playing field if it stands. Cannot see Ferrari being too happy about being blown off on the straights by some upstart with a Cosworth. Predict more action in the courts and press than on the track until all that is settled. Will FOTA take their marbles and abandon the FIA or will FIA destroy FOTA??? Will countries trying to make a PR statement continue to pay Bernie tons of money for something to burnish their image even if their population care nothing about motor racing????

Ferrari's recent leaked letter to Mosley protesting the 2010 rules refers to "to an agreement between Mosley and former Ferrari chief executive Jean Todt from 2005 that gives Ferrari "additional rights" above and beyond those granted to other teams" which is sure to throw more fuel on the fire.

So will we see over 20,000 rpm?
Wonder what that would sound like.

I'm looking at this budget ruling as being similar to ALMS - pick P1 or pick P2 and then work hard to make it happen. Porsche strategically took to P2 a few years back and didn't do too badly against Audi in that time. I'm sick of seeing Ferrari being given preferential treatment - if they're so damn good they should just get on with moving forward and quit all the bs in the background. Trouble is, they only do part of their talking on the track, and that hasn't been enough.

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WOW... The changes cover so many different facets of the F1 sport. Its amazingly complex and provocative, as can be seen in Ferrari, Williams, and McLaren all being initially against the new rules. Its hard to see which of these many new variables are going to show up to be extremely defining... Weight, KERS, aeros, milage, tire strategy, unlimited rev? On the surface it looks to make it many times more difficult to pick a winner.

I like the cap though, but what a nightmare to police. What value do you assign to, say, all of the facilities that Ferrari already has. Likewise how do you account for a guy in the R&D department for road cars at Ferrari, who comes up with a good idea for the race team and sends it over. It seems to me that the teams associated with an automobile manufacture have the most to gain from this arrangement, even though Ferrari opposes it because they also have the highest budget in the sport.

Any team wishing to compete in next year's championship must notify the FIA between May 22 to 29 and state whether they wish to compete under the cost-cap regulations. The USA will have a 2 car team for the 2010 F1 circuit. A total of three new 2 car teams are expected to join the F1 next year. The sport has not seen 26 cars on the grid for 15 years.

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Seat of the pants dyno

And if the team picks wrong their season is pretty much over. The budget cap is good but it will take a fleet of accountants to police and the protests about expenses will be greater than the diffuser protests. The championship decided by the auditors? One rule for everyone would be a simpler idea and wouldn't confuse the fans. With Bernies push to non-fan countries for F1 races at the expense of the embedded European fan base I fear there is going to be a severe push back at some point. Make it too complicated, too unreal and too for away and there isn't much left for the true fan of F1. Might as well be IRL (say there is an idea use all those ex-champ cars that are still around for tier two).

I understand what you are saying, but maybe you speak as a very well informed USA F1 enthusiast who sees much love of the sport being built upon the heroes and ways of the past*. To most of the World, they don't care... F1 is the sole embodiments of the World's most modern hi-tech, most sexy, most ultra cool happening in the whole World. For the people in Singapore, and Shanghai, and Sidney, and Bahrain, to now be included into this most elite World spotlight, is beyond description. The modern F1 is a modern phenomena unto itself. And its still great fun!

* BTW.. Today is the fifteen anniversary of Ayrton Senna, the São Paulo-born driver, who claimed 41 Grand Prix wins, 65 pole positions and 3 World Championship titles between 1984 and 1994, was killed tragically on this day in the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix when leading the race for Williams.

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Seat of the pants dyno

That was a sad day. I was watching live.
I remember his first year in the Toleman.

Me too. No one currently impresses me as much. Lifting a glass to Ayrton.

Yep, there was Gilles, then Senna, then Schumi.
Before my time was who, Clark, Fangio... who else?
These days no one compares.

I agree with you here. No France this year, possibly no Britain next year, but more exotic locations with concentrated wealth and no real fan base. I think the risk to F1 is alienation of the traditional fan base - which is whom the sponsors and manufacturers want to reach. Without sponsors and manufacturers money there is no F1 as Bernie knows it.

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LOL

I think that Alonso has the makings but time will tell.

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1980 Honda CBX
2004 Suzuki SV1000
2006 Subaru Legacy
2002 Honda Insight

We know that Mosley enjoys his fantasies but autosport.com - F1 News: Mosley: F1 could survive without Ferrari this one strains creditability even more than his private for hire ones do.

Also the budget cap does not include engines for 2010.

They can build single race engines and even qualifying engines.

Add movable wings and double KERS (four wheel drive)...

Sounds like a capped team will be world champion next year.

A lot of people out of work if Ferarri goes for the cap.

I think there already are several classes with F1, F2, A1GP, etc. I think there should be one set of rules for each, one budget limit for each (probably higher than the $60-70M for F1, and tie the wing and KERS rules to horsepower / weight). And don't limit the refueling, # of engines, gearboxes, etc. I think if you set the budget, the well-managed, well-engineered teams would be able to figure those things out for themselves. This might limit Ferrari, but all the $$ don't seem to be helping them much this season. I wonder what Porsche could do in F1 if given a fixed budget.

It's one thing doing things for safety's sake, but if I am not mistaken, we have been fortunate no one since Senna has passed on. So change just to please certain manufacturers or Bernie Ecclestone is ridiculous. If they are trying to reduce fuel consumption that's another thing.

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"He who dies with the most toys is, nonetheless, still dead." — Unknown

F1 is much like any other major sport - including baseball. Money talks loudest. How else can a sport logically put races in Abu Dhabi and Bahrain but not in France, Canada or the USA, given that attendance potential, and related revenues, should logically be so much greater in N America and Europe? The upfront investment and payments to F1 (and particular individuals) certainly have something to do with this.

We all saw here how Major League Baseball resisted putting a team in the Washington DC area despite all other logic until they extracted from the DC government a $600M publicly-financed stadium, and later $400M+ out of an ownership group, plus another owner (of the Baltimore Orioles) being essentially bribed by giving him controlling rights to the Washington Nationals' broadcast network. All that investment has not yet helped to put a winning team on the field that people will go see. Budget caps and revenue sharing only go so far, inasmuch as the Yankees and Red Sox remain the Ferrari and McLaren of baseball. Excuse me while I drink to big time sports of all sorts.....

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"He who dies with the most toys is, nonetheless, still dead." — Unknown

Television figures justify late starts