The London Daily News

27 March, 2009 17:46 (GMT +00:00)

F1 2009 The first Look

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London Daily News Motor Editor Stephen Burns looks at the forthcoming opening race and looks at the new regulations

After the first two practice sessions, how have the new regulations affected Formula1?

Although the majority of changes during the off season have affected the way the cars look it is not easy to say which team has the advantage. The restriction on engines means that the teams are less willing to be adventurous during practice but from the running completed in the first two sessions, the changes have made a difference. All the cars appear less stable under braking and twitchy through the corners. All of the cars were having oversteer moments on the exit of corners as they suffered from lack of rear end grip and several teams were plagued by understeer on the entrance to some corners. This is partly the result of the reduction in downforce and as a result of the new regulations as the teams explore the grip levels offered by the new slick tyres. The tip to seeing this instability is to watch the steering wheel and not the car. There's a lot of opposite lock in some places.

The KERS system is not compulsory this year but is thought to offer an advantage of as much as two rows on the grid. It is however impossible to see who is using the extra power boost the system offers. This is something the FIA is looking into.

It is also difficult to visually differentiate between the two compounds of tyre that must be used during the race. With the introduction of slick tyres the previous method of a white line in one of the grooves is ineffective and the current solution of green shoulders on the softer tyres is too difficult to be clearly seen.

All in all the new regulations should spice up the racing. The cars being more sensitive and the new wider front wing could well lead to several cars limping to the pits in the early laps. With the different interpretations of the regulations and the various solutions the teams have come up with there is no longer the expected look to the times from the practice sessions. If this is an indication for the rest of the season then the next world champion could well come from a team that until now had been considered an “also ran.”

First Practice Times

P.	Driver	Team	Time
1	Nico Rosberg	Williams	1:26.687
2	Kazuki Nakajima	Williams	0:00.049
3	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	0:00.063
4	Rubens Barrichello	Brawn	0:00.539
5	Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren	0:00.766
6	Jenson Button	Brawn	0:00.780
7	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	0:00.955
8	Timo Glock	Toyota	0:01.023
9	Adrian Sutil	Force India	0:01.306
10	Fernando Alonso	Renault	0:01.436
11	Nick Heidfeld	BMW	0:01.450
12	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	0:01.455
13	Robert Kubica	BMW	0:01.824
14	Giancarlo Fisichella	Force India	0:01.916
15	Sebastien Buemi	Toro Rosso	0:02.098
16	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren	0:02.355
17	Mark Webber	Red Bull	0:02.394
18	Nelson Piquet	Renault	0:02.774
19	Sebastien Bourdais	Toro Rosso	0:02.812
20	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull	0:06.097

Second Practice Times

P.	Driver	Team	Time
1	Nico Rosberg	Williams	1:26.053
2	Rubens Barrichello	Brawn	0:00.104
3	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	0:00.299
4	Mark Webber	Red Bull	0:00.317
5	Jenson Button	Brawn	0:00.321
6	Timo Glock	Toyota	0:00.390
7	Kazuki Nakajima	Williams	0:00.507
8	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull	0:00.687
9	Adrian Sutil	Force India	0:00.987
10	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	0:01.011
11	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	0:01.151
12	Fernando Alonso	Renault	0:01.179
13	Giancarlo Fisichella	Force India	0:01.229
14	Robert Kubica	BMW	0:01.345
15	Nick Heidfeld	BMW	0:01.364
16	Sebastien Bourdais	Toro Rosso	0:01.426
17	Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren	0:01.749
18	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren	0:01.760
19	Nelson Piquet	Renault	0:01.775
20	Sebastien Buemi	Toro Rosso	0:02.023

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