Season 2008 saw one of the best finishes to the season that ever happened in F1 history. Lewis Hamilton for Mclaren became one of the youngest drivers in formula 1 history to win a championship title. He won the championship with just one point over Fillipe Massa of Ferrari. The fans could not have asked for a better finish than this one, The championship kept changing hands until the last three or four laps, The championship deciding moment only came at the last turn of the last race of the season. Relive the Championship 2008 moment here.
Formula One racing’s governing body, the FIA, has approved a change to the points systems for this year’s drivers’ championship, which will see the title awarded to the driver with the most race wins. The rest of the standings, from second to last place, will be decided by the current points system. If two or more drivers finish the season with the same number of wins, the title will be awarded to the driver with the most points, the allocation of points being based on the existing 10, 8, 6 etc. structure. The constructors’ championship is unaffected.
The FIA’s World Motor Sport Council accepted the proposal for the new system from Formula One Management at a meeting in Paris on Tuesday. An alternative proposal to change the points awarded to drivers finishing in first, second and third place to 12, 9 and 7 points respectively was rejected.This will now make things interesting as the Drivers will now have to win more races than just making it through to the top 8 to score points. The stress will therefore be more on qualifying and gaining the lead position. It now allows drivers like Fernando Alonso to trust the racing conditions and prove his skills by winning more races.
Source : Formula One (Official Website)
The website has complete list of all the race tracks, complete with details about speed, gears, and overtaking opportunities in every single turn or sections of each circuit. It's complete with profiles of all Drivers, cars filled with interviews and news. It's a fun site, visit at least once.
Further changes agreed by the Council included minor tweaks to the testing regulations, increased media duties for teams and drivers at races, and a cost capping option for 2010.
As an alternative to running under the existing rules, which are to remain stable until 2012, all teams will have the option to compete with cars built and operated within a stringent cost cap. The cost cap is £30m (currently approximately €33 or $42m). This figure will cover all expenditure of any kind. Anything subsidized or supplied free will be deemed to have cost its full commercial value and rigorous auditing procedures will apply.
To enable these cars to compete with those from teams which are not subject to cost constraints, the cost-capped cars will be allowed greater technical freedom. The FIA has the right to adjust elements of these freedoms to ensure that the cost-capped cars have neither an advantage nor a disadvantage when compared to cars running to the existing rules.
Honda’s request to have their entry changed to the Brawn GP Formula One Team was also approved. Team registration fees in this regard stand waived off.
The cost cap is a interesting concept that was debated by the fans for a long time. Teams like Ferrai and McLaren who have a strong sponsorship deals and a good financial foothold were able to fine tune their cars more than the other teams giving them an added advantage, their cars then were obviously faster and stronger than the others.
The cost cap now completely terminates the money factor, and shifts focus on the technical design of the cars. It will be a big challenge for the teams to make some design changes with the same expenditure to make sure their car stands out from the rest. It also allows drivers who had the disadvantage of a slower car and a no-so-good technical design compared to their counter-parts to catch up and be more competitive.
Fernando Alonso has gone on to state that he is now going to make sure that his team has hands on championship trophy this time around convinced that his car would out do the rest. The days of Ferrari and McLaren domination are gone, It's now a race of who comes out as the better driver than the better car after hearing the new rules in place for this season. It's promises to be a fan-fare this time around. Catch a glimpse of the standings in season 2008.
Drivers you should look out for
Fernando Alonso, by far one of the best drivers in the current championship, The man has skills to win a race even in the wet conditions and given a faster and better performing machine don't be surprised if he top's the list in drivers championship right from the very beginning.
Lewis Hamilton debuted as a champion winning his very first race in 2007, The man then went on to win last years championship in a closely contested battle with Fillipe Massa. With the new championship point system in place for this season, he will have to show more consistency and skill to keep the winning streak going.Just 24, Lewis has a great carrer ahead of him.
The Ferrari men: Fillipe Massa(left) and Kimi Raikkonen(right). The only team that saw competition between their drivers was Ferrari. Raikkonen proved his commitment to the team sa he handed his first spot to Massa during the last race of the last season. Tables may turn this time if Raikkonen corrects his mistakes and takes more wins. Massa on the other hand would want to repeat his performance last season, only this time hoping for a big win.
Season 2009 action begins March 29th.
Join me for more action at the end of every race.
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Kunal
PS: I was a big Micheal Schumacher fan, But I'm glad he retired as we now get to see more closely fought battle. With him on the scene there was only one winner and it was him hands down in any sort of conditions. He now can be seen in the Ferrari pits offering advices. The only sad thing about his retirement is that he had a bad finishing season. Crashes, Bursting Tyres and less wins in what had been a podium finish carrer.
This post is a part of my personal blog located @ F1: What to expect in Season 2009
wef April 09, All posts related to sports will be a part of this blog exclusively. Keep coming back for a full coverage on IPL Season 2 and more.
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