The 2014 Formula 1 World Championship promises to be very unpredictable, which is exactly what F1 needs after 4 years of Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull Racing dominance. The rule changes that have been implemented over the winter are the largest number of changes that have ever been done in Formula 1 history. The teams have had to start working on their 2014 cars way back in 2012 and therefore the time, money and effort that’s gone into this year’s cars make it the highest ever investment of a team’s resource into a single car.
So what are the technical changes ? Well, they can broadly be split up into two subjects, engines and chassis. The engines are no longer just pure combustion engines but actually “power units” now which combine 1.6 litre turbo engine with 2 separate electric motors. The three engine manufacturers Ferrari, Mercedes and Renault have had a huge task to get these engines, energy storage batteries and motors working in unison together. The technology is truly revolutionary and while in the long run it will make Formula 1 more relevant to the road car industry and the cars that the public drive on the road, in the short term it has made the cars quite unreliable. The cars are also now fitted with a “brake by wire” system which means that the brake balance between the front and the rear is controlled electronically. This is because under deceleration, the motors actually work as an energy generator and apply negative torque which in turn affects the brake balance.
The other major change is in terms of aerodynamics where the front and rear wing sizes have been reduced in order to reduce the amount of downforce and therefore the dependency on aerodynamics. This should in turn help overtaking but the way the rules have been written for the front wing means that this year’s cars are probably the ugliest in F1 history!
The other big change for 2014 is a fuel limit of 100kgs for the race from the start to the chequered flag.
This represents a reduction of about 40% from what the teams used in the past which is a huge amount. Obviously the difference is this year, a chunk of the power is being produced by the batteries and motors and therefore the requirement is less but the 100kg limit has made it very tight indeed. We’re going to hear a lot of radio chat for drivers to save fuel throughout the season, I think.
So who looks strong at the moment ? Well Mercedes have clearly emerged from the winter testing with the best engine so far. The Mercedes works team with Hamilton and Rosberg start the season as clear favourites. Williams have timed their switch to Mercedes engines superbly and they look like they are in good shape as well with Ferrari and McLaren fighting over the next few spots with Force India. Red Bull Racing and the other Renault teams are clearly on the back foot as they have had a huge amount of reliability trouble and it will be very interesting to see if they can recover to make it 5 World Championships in a row.
On the driver front, there are a lot of changes. Mark Webber has retired, making room for fellow Aussie Daniel Ricciardo to move over from Scuderia Torro Rosso. Dan’s a great friend of mine and a very fast driver who should push Vettel especially in the second half of the year once he’s settled in.
Kimi Raikkonnen versus Fernando Alonso at Ferrari will be one of the big talking points while Mclaren’s new signing Kevin Magnussen looks like being something special as well. All in all lots of new rules, new cars, new driver line ups and a new era of Formula 1 kicks of in Melbourne !
The writer is one of the only two Indian drivers to have raced in Formula One