I realise that i am an extremely obsessive person ! So i ended up following formula 1 [the drama that it has become] over the last 2 months. A small recap for the uninitiated End of last season saw the exit of many engine manufacturers namely Toyota, BMW, & nearly Renault. So the engines on the grid are Ferrari, Mercedes, Cosworth[due to the new teams] & Renault. It would count as a huge loss, as most of the engines have very similar specs, though certain other things like reliability & fuel consumption are still going to be the game changers. Entry of new teams [all with cosworth engines]: Lotus F1, Virgin F1, Campos & US F1. These were limited budget constructors, who would take advantage of the reduced costs to compete in F1 and potentially widen the field. Rule changes were the flavor of the season, KERS did not take off ! but the fuel pit stops were taken off. Now that means the fuel tanks may have as much as 150Kgs of fuel at the beginning. F1 is here for the longer haul one must say ! Cost cutting is everywhere, most of the teams are on reduced staff ! Seems F1 kept all the glam quotient and parties only to fire the people who could take it to the next level.
Who says F1 is dying ! This was just the start of the fun, then you had the whole driver magic happening. Schumi is back, that too under / with Ross Brawn. Me thinks this is going to be on magical season with a lot of crashes, reliability issues and controversies. Cosworth were always a decent engine, Williams are making them look very decent at the trial runs, they seem to have a great balance of speed and fuel efficiency which may just play out well for the bottom half of the grid later in the season.
So whats going to happen ! US F1 may not happen ? Yes, that seems like a possibility, the serbian vultures [as ferrari tags them] Stefan F1 may just have an entry because of them. Maybe we shall see a 28 car grid ! Crazier things have happened in the last 2 months. Indian driver driving the whole season ? Yes, Kaun chandok may just get an entry by paying for his seat. Campos may take him up, now that they can pay Dallara for the chassis … That would definitely put us ahead of the chinese at something ;). Virgin F1 may become a model for new F1 teams ? Having created a car using only CFD, they may create the pattern for all future F1 teams. Only time will tell what happens, it looks like Lotus have an edge over them in terms of parts supply and reliability … not over lap times yet !
Now that there is hardly 2 weeks to go, i think that a lot is yet to happen. I shall keep track and let you all know about it !
Some links which you must follow http://formula1.com - Official online mouthpiece, must read http://espnf1.com - Great coverage and decent articles http://news.google.com - Search for “Formula 1” and read the news !