Michael Schumacher - The Return

  

     Well who would have thought it after a three year absence the most successful driver in the history of F1 is to return to the sport. Some would consider him a sublime genius and others a mercenery cheat. I must at this point declare my own interest in this and state that I would be in the former of the two groups. I was blown away when Schumacher announced his retirement and this was only reinforced for me when in his last race in Interlagos he gave the same type of performance that the Harlem Globe Trotters give when they humiliate anyone they come up against.
     The big question of course is has he still got it! Michael himself appears unconcerned and with the confidence that seems to be the birthright of any top sportsman has said that he has kept his hand in mucking about on motorbikes and taking part in some karting events. Some have questioned whether that is enough. Johnny Herbert who was Schumachers team mate when he drove for Benneton sites others such as Mansell and Prost who struggled when they returned to F1. Schumacher also has the psychology of age to contend with. As we get older we become more aware of our mortality and are prone to a less risk taking approach. When milliseconds matter you cant afford to hesitate.
     Nico Rosberg, Schumacher's new team mate has laid down the gauntlet stating that he was never really a Schumacher fan anyway and always routed for Hakkinen, as he was a friend of the family. He went on to say that the Mercedes philosophy was to treat drivers as equals and that he intends to be in front of michael, for as much as possible. In fact at the moment drivers appear to be lining up to announce their intent to be in front of Scumacher. Gone it would seem are the days when all that they wanted was to win the race! Fernando Alonso has already demonstrated his ability to arrive at the chequered flag in front of Michael taking the 2005 and 2006 championship from him. The young guns are also getting ready in a field of drivers that hosts two other world champions and some very promising hopefuls. Lewis Hamilton, Mark Webber, Jenson Button, Felippe Massa and Robert Kubica are names that immediatly spring to my mind. I am sure you have your own thoughts.
     Then of course there is always the changes that have taken place in the cars. They have become more difficult to drive while Michael has been away with less driver aids on board. Writing this I have realized that the old giezzer of F1 has a lot to contend with. Do I think he can do it ? Well for me I always found that in his previous carnation in F1, when ever I believed the task he had to perform was impossible, he somehow managed to pull it off. Be it driving half a race stuck in 5th gear and getting a points finish or driving twenty laps at qualifying pace, to win a race he should not have been able to win. So I will stick my neck out and say I think we may be looking at another world championship here. Wow that was brave! One thing for sure, whatever happens we are in for an interesting season.

New Teams and Rule Changes for 2010

F1 2010 rule changes-How will the changes effect the races.

No Refueling.

This will create the major changes for 2010 and will mean that the cars will be wider at the back and longer to accommodate a fuel tank that will need to be three times the size of last years cars carrying around 250 litres of fuel.Bridgestone will be introducing a slightly harder compound tyre attempting to compasate for the heavier weight of the cars at the begining of the race.The extra weight may also mean that drivers will have to take more care in conserving their brakes and tires. Some may be wondering how this will affect drivers who have appeared to be heavy on tires and brakes in the past. One name that comes to mind would be lewis Hamilton who had problems in 2009 with these issues.

More Teams.

In 2010 there will be thirteen teams up from ten that will put 26 cars on the starting grid. At the time of writing the teams for 2010 are as follows:-

Teams and Drivers

AT & T Williams........................R. Barrichello + N. Hulkenberg.

BMW Sauber..............................K. Koybayashi + TBA.

Force india...............................A. Sutil + V. Liuzzi.

Mclaren Mercedes.......................J. Button + L. Hamilton.

Mercedes GP Petronas....................N. Rosberg + M. Schumacher.

Red Bull Racing.............................S. Vettel + M. Webber.

Renault F1..................................R. Kubica + TBA.

Scuderia Ferrari.............................F. Alonso + F. Massa.

Scuderia Toro Rosso.......................S. Buemi + TBA.

The New Teams.

Campos Meta......................................B. Senna + TBA.

Lotus F1...........................................J. Trulli + H. Kovalainen.

Virgin Racing.......................................T. Glock + L. Di Grassi.

US F1.................................................TBA.

Changes to Qualifying.

Due to the increased grid size eight instead of five drivers will now be knocked out of Q1 andQ2 leaving ten to fight it out in Q3. Also due to the ban on refueling all the qualifying sessions will be run on low fuel.

Tyres and wheels.

As well as the tyres compound being harder the front tyres will be reduced in width from 270mm to 245mm. This will address a difficulty created last year when slick tyres were brought back but the front tyres width remained the same. This should allow for a better grip balance between the front and rear of the car.

The wheel covers used by teams in 2009 have been banned. This will allow one less thing that could go wrong in a tyre change and also could help with overtaking producing less turbulance behind the cars.

Testing.

The FIA have made a change in testing which will allow new drivers who have not driven an F1 car for two years(or indeed ever before) to test a car at an approved circuit not on the race calender. This will avoid the dangers involved in new drivers having their first in car experience on a race weekend.

Points system.

A new points system is in place and will reward the first ten drivers to finish a race instead of last years eight. There is also a bigger points gap between the first three finishers, although the % of points earned for these places remains proportionally the same, but allows drivers who finish further down the grid to pick up more points than before. The new points system is as follows:- 
1st......25 points

2nd....20 points

3rd....15 points

4th....10 points

5th....08 points

6th.....06 points

7th.....05 points
8th....03 points
9th....02 points
10th...01 points

Well thats all the boring stuff out of the way the rule changes to my mind and will hopefully encourage closer racing but I am not so sure about the new points system. I would imagine that it will take the new teams time to step up to the mat in any meaningful way and start earning points. Last year may also be the exception where four drivers had the oppertunity to win the championship for a large part of the season. Most years it has been a two driver fight and the new points system may well allow one or two drivers to shoot off into the lead and win the championship earlier in the season than ever before.

2010 Racing Calender.

01. Bahrain Grand Prix(Sikhar).........................12-14 March.

02. Australian Grand Prix(Melbourne).................26-28 March.

03. Malaysian Grand Prix(Kuala Lumper)..............02-04 April.

04. Chinese Grand Prix(shanghai)......................16-18 April.

05. Spanish Grand Prix(Catalunya).....................07-09 May.

06. Monaco Grand Prix(Monte Carlo)...................13-16 May.

07. Turkish Grand Prix(Istanbul)........................28-30 May.

08. Canadian Grand Prix(Montreal).....................11-13 June.

09. European Grand Prix(Valencia)......................25-27 June.

10. British Grand Prix(Silverstone)......................09-11 July.

11. German Grand Prix(Hockenheim)...................23-25 July.

12. Hungarian Grand Prix(Budapest)....................30 July - 1st Aug

13. Belgian Grand Prix(Spa-Francorchamps)............27-29 Aug

14. Italian Grand Prix(Monza).............................10-12 Sept

15. Singapore Grand Prix..................................24-26 Sept

16. Japanese Grand Prix(Suzuka).........................08-10 Oct

17. Korean Grand Prix(Yeongam).........................22-24 Oct

18. Brazilian Grand Prix(Sao Paulo)......................05-07 Nov

19. Abu Dhabi Grand Prix(Yas Marina Circuit)..........12-14 Nov

Hi everyone,

first of all I owe an apology to anyone who was following this site last year for the sudden ending of all new info. This was due to university madness that was created by a nutty professor who appears to feel that his students should have no personal life. Anyway I am back with a vengeance this year and also some like minded individuals who will be helping out. So stay tuned.

Here are the plans for this year:-

1. As best as possible we want to make this a one stop digest for any news, views and gossip around the world of F1 racing.

2. Provide information about the best places to go and see F1 racing. Places to book a trip, what tracks are like and their facilities and the best places on a course to see the action.

3. Some background information on the teams, drivers and personalities behind the news.

So lets get started on 2010, which looks like it could be the most exciting season for years. Here's hoping it lives up to all our expectations. We for sure are counting down the days.

This Time Last Year...

This is just a short post comparing the change in fortune for each of the teams and drivers over the first 4 grand prix. At the 2008 Australian GP, McLaren's Lewis Hamilton dominated by getting pole position and going on to easily win the race, with his team mate Heikki Kovalainen obtaining fastest lap, Ferrari only managed an 8th place with Kimi Raikkonen as Felippe Massa retired.

For the next 3 races, Ferrari got max points with a 1-2 in each race except for Malaysia where Massa retired. Hamilton picked up some points with 5th and 3rd places in the Malaysian and Spanish GPs respectively, although only managed to finish in 13th at the Bahrain GP. This is a big contrast to the Honda team (now Brawn GP) that only had 3 points in total after the first 4 races last year, and now have a commanding lead in the championship.

The following is a table showing the difference in the top teams of both years:

Drivers

2008 Points (4 races)

1. Raikkonen - 29 Points
2. Hamilton - 20 Points
3. Massa - 18 Points
4. Button - 3 Points
5. Barrichello - 0 Points
6. Vettel - 0 Points

2009 Points (4 races)

1. Button - 31 Points
2. Barrichello - 19 Points
3. Vettel - 18 Points
4. Hamilton - 9 Points
5. Raikkonen - 3 Points
6. Massa - 0 Points

Constructors

2008 Points (4 races)

1. Ferrari - 47 Points
2. Bmw - 35 Points
3. McLaren - 34 Points
4. Toyota - 9 Points
5. Red Bull - 8 Points
6. Honda (Brawn GP) - 3 Points

2009 Points (4 races)

1. Brawn GP - 50 Points
2. Red Bull - 27.5 Points
3. Toyota - 26.5 Points
4. McLaren - 13 Points
5. BMW - 4 Points
6. Ferrari - 3 Points

Max. Grid Size Increased to 26

The maximum number of cars allowed on the grid has increased to 26, 15 years since the last time that number of cars has been found on the grid.
The increase from 24 to 26 has been implemented by the FIA due to the recent budget cutting measures that have been put in place. It is hoped that this will encourage more teams to join the championship, which is the most expensive in the world.

It has already been speculated that both an American Team and the Prodrive team owned by David Richards and looking into getting into the sport.

The accepted list of teams and drivers will be published on the 12th June 2009 by the FIA.

Budget Increase and Introduction of Refuelling Ban

The FIA have announced an increase to their proposed team budget for 2010 from £30 million up to £40 million. Any teams that exceed this budget will have to face a penalty from the FIA although the severity of this penalty is not yet clear.

Other major changes to take place next year include the allowance of movable front and rear wings, engines without rev-limiters and the allowance of unlimited out of season testing. A ban on tyre warmers has also been proposed which will hopefully bring us some interesting driving as cars leave the pit lane in the middle of a race.

One of the most controversial changes for next year is the ban on refuelling. This means that teams will have to incorporate a tank big enough to hold a whole race worth of fuel into their designs for the 2010 season. I looks like we will have another unpredictable start to the season in 2010, and some interesting designs as the teams incorporate full race sized tanks.