I wrote a post on the new F1 season and the rule changes at the start of the 2009 F1 season. This is a followup post on how these changes are affecting the racing.

Tires

Turns out the cars have more grip thanks to slicks instead of tires with treads. They go faster on the slow stuff and slower on the fast stuff (thanks to less aero). But this ends up making lap times shorter! However, the hard compound tires are very difficult to get up to temperature and there ends up being a huge performance difference between runners on the hard compound tires and soft compound tires, which has let to some crashes in a few races.

KERS

In the Bahrain GP, it was clear to see how KERS affects performance. It’s quite impressive to see some drivers in KERS enabled cars blocking others in much faster cars. Also, it’s cool to see the fight between KERS and non-KERS cars on straights and coming out of corners. It makes for a very entertaining drive, and it’s a new tool in the drivers arsenal to judiciously use to get more performance. Given that power boosts only come in short bursts, and they are depleted after every lap, strategy becomes a pretty important factor in determining when to use this and where, to get the advantage.

Super diffuser

Some cars have “super diffusers”. The rule change this season was supposed to reduce the dependence on aerodynamic downforce, which is why the rear wings got super small, to enable cars to pass. With large wings of yore, the air behind the cars was dirty, and it was dangerous for a car that’s trying to pass, to get too close to the car in front of it, as it’s front grip would disappear. Anyway, these rule changes have been totally ineffective, since cars that use these super diffusers dirty up the air behind them anyway, and cause other cars to keep their distance. So this is useless rule change that hasn’t really accomplished what it set out to do.

Driver controlled front wing

So when the rear wings got small this season, drivers got the ability to control the front wing angle just a few degrees. The idea is that drivers can increase downforce on the front wings as they go to pass someone. Super diffusers negate this completely. But it’s really cool to see this much control being given to drivers, and it gives me even more respect for them as drivers, as they are able to drive so quickly, which adjusting brake bias for specific corners, and now front wing downforce. Very cool! As a side effect of all these aero changes, next season front tires are getting narrower, since the fronts have too much grip now (with reduce downforce in the rear and slicks, and larger wings up front).

Let me know if I’ve missed anything, or if you would like to add your own thoughts, comments.