10 Things To Look Forward To In 2010 Tuesday 5th January 2010 - PlanetF1.com There are so many new things to look forward to in 2010, despite Richard Branson getting more heavily involved in the sport. The Flavio Decision A French court is about to deliver a happy new year or a grumpy new year to Flavio Briatore. They are set to rule whether the FIA acted outside their remit by banning the Renault boss for his involvement in Crashgate. Whatever the outcome, it's unlikely to end here. 26 Cars on the Grid The last time we had 26 cars on the grid for any number of races it was back in the 1995 season. Now we're back with a full grid in F1. We don't necessarily have the best 13 teams lining up - how else could you explain the absence of Lola and the FIA's previously preferred new team, Prodrive. But it will certainly add to the spectacle. The marshals will have more to do, the leaders will have more backmarkers to pass and Monaco should be gridlock. Proper Stewarding Mosley resisted it for so long and Todt has embraced it straight away; the idea that somebody who knows what he's talking about should get involved in stewarding decisions i.e. a driver. Four stewards will now be sitting at each grand prix rather than the current three. These will be made up of those drawn from a smaller permanent group of F1 stewards and ex-drivers, along with one steward representing the National Sporting Authority holding the grand prix. The four stewards will electing their own chairman at each race. At last we have the chance of consistency of decisions, something that's been totally lacking in recent years. Schumi's Return There will be a lot to look forward to in Bahrain, not least the return of Felipe Massa after his enforced absence. But as the bright-eyed rookies take to the track and the new teams roll out their unfamiliar liveries, the world's media will be encamped outside the Mercedes garage. Because the return of the most successful driver in motorsport history will be the biggest news story going at the Sakhir Circuit Senna back in F1 Providing the Campos team can get their car together in time - Bernie has hinted that he's less than convinced - Bruno Senna will make his F1 debut. Thus we will have the winningest driver of all time on the grid and the nephew of the best driver of all time on the grid. Bruno doesn't pretend to be Ayrton, but any tussle with Schumi will revive some dusty old Schumacher vs Senna headlines. And let's face it, Bruno is more of a Senna than the Tony Fernandes Lotus is a Lotus. Hamilton vs Button Massa vs Alonso Rosberg vs Schumacher Schumacher vs Vettel There are going to be some titanic inter-team tussles in 2010 and it all kicks off in Bahrain (it might even kick off before that). Hamilton will want to show Button who's the better World Champ, Massa will want to keep team honours at Ferrari, Nico Rosberg will want to prove he can live with a living and Vettel will want to be the fastest German. The Korean GP With each new GP track there is the hope and expectation that Herr Tilke has finally cracked it and delivered a race track that is truly memorable. Trouble is when the media arrive at a new circuit they tend to look at the buildings, such as the grandstands in Shanghai and Malaysia, the pit complex in Bahrain and the hotels in Singapore and Abu Dhabi. There's been so many new tracks now that the law of averages must kick in sooner or later. Changes to Silverstone Silverstone bosses have said they will have the new arena circuit - designed for the long-awaited Moto GP race - in action by March and there's still a possibility that the F1 cars could run on it in July. The shape of things to come now that it's got the race for 17 years. Changes to Monaco? Back in the summer, there were diggers in action at the Monaco tunnel exit (as this exclusive PF1 photo reveals) and the road down to the chicane was being pulled up. Does this mean that we're going to have a straight road down there and a possible overtaking opportunity in the Monaco GP? We can but sit and hope. Running on Full Tanks It might be a false dawn, but with refuelling banned in 2010, drivers are going to have to get used to testing and racing with a lot more fuel on board. And while practice sessions could be done on relatively low levels of fuel in the past, the range of characteristics that a driver is going to have to set the car up for this season are huge. Qualifying will be done with no fuel and they'll start the race with 200 miles' worth. So there's the chance for more than a few errors to creep in. It's a situation just made for the greatest adaptor of all, Michael Schumacher. FH
http://www.gpkorea.com/upfiles/editorupload/200610/%5B20061010135434%5D_F1GHSD.jpg Korean track layout - appears to be standard Tilke! What are the chances Silverstone is still a building site for the GP? Call be pessimistic, but I think It's going to be a mess for a few years yet, although the new layout will probably lead to lower downforce, so the start of the lap is going to be interesting! Lastly, I think the only chance there is of Senna/Shuey headline is if the former hits the latter while being lapped... IMHO Those two cars are going to be seperated by a rather large space, we could be getting back to the bad old days where the grid is seperated by 5+ seconds a lap.. Is the old 120% rule still valid in qualifying?
Nope. My fellow countryman almost singlehandedly got that rule removed. For quali 2010, they will still have 3 stages, but IIRC, all 3 stages can be fueled as light as possible. Edit : Thanks for the pic of the layout. Looks like Bahrain+Turkey to me.
Most important development in the story! Lets hope some semblance of consistency is achieved. Hope your new year is going well!