The Formula One 2009 Season Preview

The 2009 Formula One season is going to have a different taste and feel to it this year, with so many changes to the rules and regulation fans should expect an exciting and engaging race season. Ferrari, McLaren, Renault, and BMW Sauber were all winners on the F1 circuit in 2008, but with all the alterations to race conditions, how confident can they be of continuing to run at the top of the Formula One world? Will the young guns find ways to implement or interpret the new regulations to give them an edge? Will they still have the competitive edge that allowed them to stay ahead of the pack?

Can Lewis Hamilton do it again for McLaren?

Ferrari’s Formula One F60 will be driven by Kimi Raikkonen from Finland and Felipe Massa of Brazil for the 2009 season, both experienced drivers and proven winners, even if Kimi did have an off racing season last year. Ferrari’s team principal, Stefano Domenicali has stated that Ferrari will be concentrating on trying to make the car more reliable by taking care of the small things in 2009. Reports out of Spain and Bahrain had Ferrari running a little slow due to the weather, but more recent reports indicate that at Jerez and Barcelona Ferrari was showing signs of improving their cars overall performance and speed.
McLaren will field the current world champion Lewis Hamilton from Great Britain and Heikki Kovalainen of Finland for the 2009 F1 season. Current reports out of Jerez and Barcelona indicate McLaren is having problems with the rear-end aerodynamics of the MP4-24; both Lewis and Heikki have reported disappointment in the cars performance, so far. McLaren says it has scientists and technicians working on the problem and they hope to have a few changes that will fix the problem by the time they pull into Melbourne at the end of the month.
BMW Sauber’s drivers for this season are Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld, BMW has been really quiet during testing, but the F1.09 has shown every sign of being able to compete head-to-head with the other teams. The Swiss-German combination will be implementing a KERS system in their car this season and team principal Dr. Mario Theissen has indicated the system is ready for race testing. Will BMW Sauber be able to compete effectively for the world championship this season, is the question?
Renault will put Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet in the drivers’ seat of their R29 race car this season. Initial reports indicate the R29 ran slow in the early stages in Spain, but that lap times at Jerez were much improved and clearly progress is being made on the R29. Renault will also implement a KERS system in their race car this F1 season, but any advantages a KERS system may give cars implementing such systems has yet to be shown.

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