2009 brings in a lot of rules changes to Formula 1

• no more grooved tires
  

  Tyres
  After 10 seasons on grooved tyres, Formula One racing returns to slicks in 2009, as part of moves to increase the emphasis on mechanical rather than aerodynamic grip. With no grooves, grip will increase by around 20 percent, bringing a significant performance gain. However, that gain will be offset by the vastly reduced downforce levels of the revised aerodynamic regulations (see below). The overall effect should be reduced performance through high-speed corners.

• massive aero overhaul to improve passing
  

  Aerodynamics
  Along with slick tyres, this is the biggest area of change for 2009. Downforce will be dramatically reduced and the cars’ bodywork will appear much cleaner, thanks to new dimensional regulations that effectively outlaw extraneous items such as barge boards, winglets, turning vanes and chimneys on most areas of the car.

  As well as reducing overall aero performance, the revisions are also designed to increase overtaking by making the car less susceptible to turbulence when closely following another driver. The most obvious changes are to the front and rear wings.

• New electric (slightly related to a hybrid) electric boos system
  

  Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS)
  From 2009 teams have the option of employing a KERS to boost their car’s performance. As its name implies, a KERS recovers the (normally wasted) kinetic energy generated by the car’s braking process. This energy is stored using a mechanical flywheel or an electrical battery and then made available to the driver, in set amounts per lap, via a ‘boost button’ on the steering wheel. Under the current regulations the power gain equates to around 80 horsepower, available for just under seven seconds per lap. This could be worth several tenths of a second in terms of lap time, but the weight and packaging of the system – and its impact on the car’s weight distribution – also have to be taken into account.

• more interesting technical here

Bottom line is that the new cars are pretty darn ugly, with huge front aero wings but tiny rear wings.  It’s looks way out of proportion.  This is one of the changes they made to cleanup air behind the cars to encourage passing.  In this first race of the season it seems to have done just that.

Round 1 of the season presented a bunch of things that seemed like ‘upsets’ to me.  One of the more surprising things was the utter dominance of the new BrawnGP team.

Another was the amount of passing.  That really made for an interesting race, much more interesting than the Micheal Schumacher Show of seasons past.

It also seemed that the new front wings were quite fragile, many were damanged in the first lap of the race.  It was obvious that the teams forsaw this issue and spent plenty of time training in the pits to handle swapping out the noses.

You can get the rules changes highlights on the Official Formula 1 Website, as well as detailed updates last night’s (well, this mornings) race.

I wish BrawnGP luck in it’s first year, basically running last year’s 2008 Honda team but with Mercedes Power.