Motor racing-Formula One faces its biggest change in decades

Formula One starts a new season in Bahrain on Sunday with the biggest technical rule change in decades leaving plenty of questions to be answered. The cars, heavier and with bigger wheels, look very different to last year's models thanks to an overhaul aimed at making overtaking easier and the racing more competitive and exciting.

Formula One starts a new season in Bahrain on Sunday with the biggest technical rule change in decades leaving plenty of questions to be answered.

The cars, heavier and with bigger wheels, look very different to last year's models thanks to an overhaul aimed at making overtaking easier and the racing more competitive and exciting. There is plenty of debate already about the spirit of the rules, to what extent the changes will be successful, how teams have read them and whether some have pushed boundaries too far.

"This is by far the biggest change in regulation I think the sport has ever seen," commented Aston Martin technical head Andrew Green. "My career goes back to 1991 and it trumps anything from 1991. "I think it trumps everything as far as F1 is concerned," he added.

"It’s a completely new concept, a completely different way of approaching a regulation. It’s been a massive challenge. It’s been exciting for sure." Formula One's managing director for motorsport Ross Brawn, another veteran whose career dates back to the 1970s and who has run teams and also served as a Ferrari technical director, hailed a real break with the past.

He said the aim was "to get a closer competition going on for the future while still leaving it a meritocracy. "I think there’ll be a bit of disparity at the beginning but I’m confident these rules and this regime and this culture will lead to much better racing."

WHEEL SIZE The most obvious changes are the increase in wheel size from 13 to 18 inches, with low profile Pirelli tyres, and new look front and rear wings designed to reduce the aerodynamic turbulence for cars following behind.

There are fairings on the front wheels and radically different interpretations of the sidepods, which are almost non-existent in the case of champions Mercedes, while the floors generate more ground-effect downforce. "We may see that we don’t quite hit a bullseye in terms of following (cars) but we’ll still be so massively ahead of where we were, because the (old) cars were dreadful," said Brawn.

"We’ll still be a long way ahead of where the old cars are and then we’ll evolve it." The race weekend has also been condensed, with media activities moved to Friday from Thursday and more points for the three Saturday sprints to be held in Imola, Austria and Brazil.

Each team will also have to run young drivers in two Friday practice sessions over the course of the season. The budget cap, now reduced to $140 million, has introduced another strategic element.

"You have to decide extremely carefully where you invest your dollar in R&D. In the past it was a little bit easier because you could follow various avenues in chasing performance," said Mercedes boss Toto Wolff. "Today you have to decide which one has the highest potential and then embark on it. So it’s a totally different way of operating for the big teams."

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