The 2009 F1 season will have a few new
rules, which you can see below
Engine
Change :
Engines have to
last for 3 successive races. Any unscheduled change,
will incur a 10-place penalty as before.
Spare Cars :
Each team is allowed no more than two cars available for use
at any one time at a grand prix. The rule effectively means there will no
longer be spare cars in the garages.
Gearboxes :
Gearboxes must
now last a driver for 5 Grand Prix
weekends. They can be changed for subsequent events, however, if a car does
not finish a race, while gear ratios and dog rings may be changed if "there
is evident physical damage to the parts in questions". Any unscheduled
changes will incur a five-place grid penalty.
Qualifying - Fuel :
Fuel may not be added or removed from a car that takes part
in Q3 of qualifying between the start of Q3 and the start of the race. This
should, in theory, led to shorter first stints for the top ten cars and end
any need to queue in pit lane for the beginning of the final stint as any
fuel used will not be replaced for the race.
The 2009
Qualifying Rules :
The FIA has announced new changes to the
qualifying session format for the 2008 season. The changes are to replace
the rather pointless "fuel burn" phase of Q3.
In addition the new format allows and extra 5
minutes for the busy Q1 session that sees all cars on track. Under the new
rules the first part of qualifying is extended to 20 minutes. This is the
busiest of the 3 sessions with all cars eligible to take part. The extra 5
minutes will make it slightly easier for drivers to find a clear bit of
track as well as making it possible to attempt three flying laps as opposed
to the traditional 2.
With the current 20 car grid, the slowest 5 cars are eliminated leaving the
fastest 15 to go onto Q2 which is unchanged at 15 minutes. As before, the
fastest 10 drivers go through to the final Q3 session.
Q3 sees the biggest change as it is reduced in duration to 10 minutes. This
will reduce or eliminate the fuel burn stage that saw drivers touring the
circuit in an effort to shed as much fuel weight as possible to complete
their final - and most important - flying laps.
The effect of this change will be that the top cars will be doing their
final qualifying with the cars at near to their maximum racing weight. It
will therefore be important to set-up the car so it performs well in such
conditions
