Comment: A Formula overdose?
In preceding years, rule changes have more often than not been met with raised eyebrows.
The current 2.4 litre, V-8 engines will be replaced with much more technologically advanced 1.6 litre, V-6 turbo-powered hybrid engines.
Over recent years, Formula 1 has become difficult to follow for the less passionate because frequent changes in rules and regulations has made it hard to keep-up. From an alternate perspective, the sheer domination of Sebastian Vettel can be upheld as the force behind withdrawal of interest. Such a stance does, however, hold validation when gauged by the number of people that might concur.
Entering the 2014-15 season, Vettel himself would be aware of the fact that the boos which rang around circuits during many of his victories in the last edition no matter how hard-worked, indicated that rather than year-on-year consistency, the entertainment ingrained in the phenomenon of unpredictability is what actually rules the sport. In simpler terms, people want to see racing action rather than a driver who drives a car possessing such speed that he’s miles ahead of his opponents, midway through a race, every race.
In preceding years, rule changes have more often than not been met with raised eyebrows. However, the supremacy of Red Bull and its youngest ever four-time championship winning driver has sparked a chatter in the paddock indicating that next season’s overhaul, the biggest one in the last two decades, comes at the right time for many.
The most radical component of the revamp comes in the form of renewed engine specifications. The current 2.4 litre, V-8 engines will be replaced with much more technologically advanced 1.6 litre, V-6 turbo-powered hybrid engines. The hybrid in this case stands for the new Energy Recovery System (ERS) that will replace the now outdated Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS). KERS’ newborn cousin is designed to substantiate the engine brake-horse power through kinetic energy recovered under braking and thermal energy from exhaust gases.
Any engine modifications will only be half-hearted attempts at changing the sports’ dynamics without tweaking rules for the frames that house these mean machines. Rule-makers ensured that was not the case. Minor alterations in the front wing, including the nose, the rear wing, cooling systems and the exhaust will change the car’s form. Along with difference in appearance, the adjustments will unsurprisingly require drivers to work-out aerodynamic balances from scratch.
Technical changes for the next year mark a direct deviation in the sports’ trajectory. The introduction of hybrid engines, along with a 50 kilogrammes decrease in the amount of on-board fuel allowed at the start of the race, scripts the start of the ‘green revolution’ in F1. For a sport that has been notorious for violating environment laws, the development comes as a major shock.
Whether the move will turn out to be appeasement for the increasingly environment-sensitive public (read = a marketing ploy), or an attempt to accommodate the latest research and advancement in commercial automobile industry into the pinnacle of automobile sport, only time will tell. It is, however, undisputed that drivers will now have to manage their fuel more aggressively, while race engineers face sleepless nights in their bid to strike the perfect balance between efficiency and engine power.
Every new rule change in F1 brings with it the possibility of innovation. All constructors will be intensely focused on trying to figure out that unique Brawn-GP-double-diffuser-esque innovation that will win them the title next year. The revamp does not guarantee a level playing field for every constructor given the obvious differences in financial muscle of different teams. However, the back-markers can take solace in the fact that barring the funding, they lack the ability to predict next season as much as the Red Bulls and the Ferraris. A little miscalculation in conserving fuel can cause a butterfly effect so random that one of those back-markers might just find themselves on the podium.
In a bid to keep the contest alive till the last chequered flag of the season, Abu Dhabi will contribute double points towards championship totals. This development has already attracted criticism from Sebastian Vettel, who will naturally be the most anxious driver on the grid come next season, as he will attempt to retain his crown. But Vettel has more pressing concerns to consider.
Kimi Raikkonen’s second-homecoming to the prancing horse, gives Ferrari the advantage of the best team on the grid, with Fernando Alonso in the other cockpit. A reinvigorated Lewis Hamilton, who has already sounded the war drums for next season with his Mercedes. These drivers have retained their feared statuses because of abilities not just to race but also to adapt. The omens for next season predict not a lot, but only that in this race of adaptation, whoever wins, will be remembered as the messiah which breathed new life into the sport.
The writer is a sub-editor at The Express Tribune’s Peshawar desk.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 20th, 2013.
Entering the 2014-15 season, Vettel himself would be aware of the fact that the boos which rang around circuits during many of his victories in the last edition no matter how hard-worked, indicated that rather than year-on-year consistency, the entertainment ingrained in the phenomenon of unpredictability is what actually rules the sport. In simpler terms, people want to see racing action rather than a driver who drives a car possessing such speed that he’s miles ahead of his opponents, midway through a race, every race.
In preceding years, rule changes have more often than not been met with raised eyebrows. However, the supremacy of Red Bull and its youngest ever four-time championship winning driver has sparked a chatter in the paddock indicating that next season’s overhaul, the biggest one in the last two decades, comes at the right time for many.
The most radical component of the revamp comes in the form of renewed engine specifications. The current 2.4 litre, V-8 engines will be replaced with much more technologically advanced 1.6 litre, V-6 turbo-powered hybrid engines. The hybrid in this case stands for the new Energy Recovery System (ERS) that will replace the now outdated Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS). KERS’ newborn cousin is designed to substantiate the engine brake-horse power through kinetic energy recovered under braking and thermal energy from exhaust gases.
Any engine modifications will only be half-hearted attempts at changing the sports’ dynamics without tweaking rules for the frames that house these mean machines. Rule-makers ensured that was not the case. Minor alterations in the front wing, including the nose, the rear wing, cooling systems and the exhaust will change the car’s form. Along with difference in appearance, the adjustments will unsurprisingly require drivers to work-out aerodynamic balances from scratch.
Technical changes for the next year mark a direct deviation in the sports’ trajectory. The introduction of hybrid engines, along with a 50 kilogrammes decrease in the amount of on-board fuel allowed at the start of the race, scripts the start of the ‘green revolution’ in F1. For a sport that has been notorious for violating environment laws, the development comes as a major shock.
Whether the move will turn out to be appeasement for the increasingly environment-sensitive public (read = a marketing ploy), or an attempt to accommodate the latest research and advancement in commercial automobile industry into the pinnacle of automobile sport, only time will tell. It is, however, undisputed that drivers will now have to manage their fuel more aggressively, while race engineers face sleepless nights in their bid to strike the perfect balance between efficiency and engine power.
Every new rule change in F1 brings with it the possibility of innovation. All constructors will be intensely focused on trying to figure out that unique Brawn-GP-double-diffuser-esque innovation that will win them the title next year. The revamp does not guarantee a level playing field for every constructor given the obvious differences in financial muscle of different teams. However, the back-markers can take solace in the fact that barring the funding, they lack the ability to predict next season as much as the Red Bulls and the Ferraris. A little miscalculation in conserving fuel can cause a butterfly effect so random that one of those back-markers might just find themselves on the podium.
In a bid to keep the contest alive till the last chequered flag of the season, Abu Dhabi will contribute double points towards championship totals. This development has already attracted criticism from Sebastian Vettel, who will naturally be the most anxious driver on the grid come next season, as he will attempt to retain his crown. But Vettel has more pressing concerns to consider.
Kimi Raikkonen’s second-homecoming to the prancing horse, gives Ferrari the advantage of the best team on the grid, with Fernando Alonso in the other cockpit. A reinvigorated Lewis Hamilton, who has already sounded the war drums for next season with his Mercedes. These drivers have retained their feared statuses because of abilities not just to race but also to adapt. The omens for next season predict not a lot, but only that in this race of adaptation, whoever wins, will be remembered as the messiah which breathed new life into the sport.
The writer is a sub-editor at The Express Tribune’s Peshawar desk.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 20th, 2013.