Formula One Season 2009 about To Start
By Emeli Dean
In about two weeks Formula One’s season 2009 starts with its first event. The Australian Grand Prix takes place at the Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne and has a circuit length of 5,303 kilometers. The former driver Michael Schumacher from Germany holds so far all the records at this circuit: Fastest lap, most wins (4) and most pole positions (5).
The Formula One is one of the most followed sports in Germany but the euphoria may decline since the future of this sport is uncertain. After many reforms in the past few years and the worldwide financial crisis it gets more and more difficult for each team to keep up with the new regulations. First there was the new regulation for the tyres which implied the use of both types of tyres, hard and soft tyres, in each race. Then the total retirement of Michelin as a tyre supplier, the new regulation about a standard motor which especially gives the smaller teams a hard fight, and now there is the introduction of the new Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS), which has been approved to be used for the coming up season 2009.
According to the FIA and the automobile manufacturers, the racing cars are supposed to be more energy-efficient and therefore also more environmental friendly with this new system but many are putting a question mark on it. The concept of this new system is to capture a certain amount of energy which is released while the cars are breaking and release it to another point of time for future use. The new system is preliminary voluntary and will be developed in a regulated way. The aim is to change to completely newly developed engines in around four years. Meanwhile, the permission of usable power will be slowly but constantly increased.
Despite this is a positive intend, not all the teams welcome the new system with open arms. Shortly before the first event of the season begins, it seems like only two of the ten participating teams will start with the new system. So far only the two top teams McLaren-Mercedes and Ferrari have clearly declared that they will use KERS. The Finn McLaren driver Heikki Kovalainen said that they have reached the level at which they can use KERS every day, reliable, without any problems and with the maximum power.
The World Champion of 2007, Kimi Räikkönen, who drives for Ferrari since 2007 and replaced the most successful driver in the Formula One history, Michael Schumacher, is very confident, even though his team had to struggle with the new system at some of their test drives. The team will do their best to bring the system as soon as possible to the driving standard. “I think we are on a good level and we hope that everything will result well” said the Finn.
Two other teams will try to have the new system ready for the season opening, which are BMW‑Sauber and Renault. BMW is generally pro KERS, but the test drives have not brought the expected results so far. The team is receiving some criticism since they have especially supported the introduction of KERS for this season. After the last test drive in Barcelona there is still hope for the team to update their cars on time. The technical coordinator of the team stated that the last tests turned out positive, they have gained more information about the new system and several configurations were made. “The F1 Season 2009 is in respect of reliability at a good level”.
For his part, Renault’s manager Flavio Briatore said that “I assume that we will use the new system in Australia since it brings two or three tenth of a second”. Besides this statement the team has not commented anything else on the new system.
Despite these difficulties in the Formula One world, all involved parties hope for a positive outcome. About weeks ago the Formula One Teams Association FOTA has presented new plans for the future. As Ferrari’s President Luca di Montezemolo has said, this plans are the result of several meeting in the past weeks and months with one goal: to make the Formula One pricewise more attractive for spectators, TV fans and internet users, environmental friendlier and economically sustainable.
About the author
Emeli Dean provides current Formula One Championship articles as well as information in the sports betting industry. Feel free to reprint this article in its entirety on your site, make sure to leave all links in place and do not modify any of the content.