In advance of the upcoming Formula 1 season, a new video has surfaced detailing rule changes that affect race car design. The 4:15 video features interviews with different team members, and intricate 3D animations to explain just how significant the changes are.
So important are the changes, that seasoned veterans do not know how different technologies will be implemented. "Every team has no idea what other teams are doing, or what other teams' cars will look like," said Lewis Hamilton of Team Mercedes-Benz McLaren.
For the first time, teams will be allowed to implement regenerative brakes with a battery storage system that gives the driver access to a short power boost. A 6.5 second jolt of 82 horsepower can be fired on at the push of a button. Of course, the driver will have to have perfect timing when using the boost. Any number of things can go wrong if that button is pressed at the wrong moment..
Some of the rule changes call for a lower and wider front wing, and a new nose. The whole vehicle has a reduced width, with exhaust pulled further back. Adjustable flaps can be tweaked by up to six degrees. The rear wing is elevated higher, but more narrow. Also, teams will only be allowed to use up to eight engines for the entire season, which means some engines will have to last three race weekends instead of two. F1 is also bringing back slick tyres for the first time in 11 years.
That uncertainty should translate into even more exciting races, particularly at the beginning of the season, as this is essentially a fresh start for F1. Team Panasonic Toyota Racing driver Timo Glock said, "Nobody tested it in a proper way. It will be really interesting in the first test, especially the first race."
Mercedes-Benz Motorsport VP Norbert Haug said, "More than half of the ten teams is definitely in a position to build a winning car." He remarked that while several teams took trophies last year, this year everything is up for grabs.
"It is a challenging formula," he said.
