F1 2014: The new rules at a glance

With just over a month to go for the F1 season to commence, we take a look at what the new rules are all about. The cars look different, sound different and have gone green.The Formula 1 hierarchy felt it necessary to implement the new changes to modernize and improve the sport, after the Formula E and The World Sportscars set the tone with several technological advances.

#1 The Engine

After long contemplation, Bernie and his team decided that it was time to replace the V-8 with the turbo charged V-6. Engines will now hugely determine a teams performance as they will be allowed only 130 litres of fuel, as compared to the 195 litres that was allowed last season. In addition to this, the engines must not consume over 100 kilos of fuel in an hour. Dont be alarmed! These changes in fuel arent as radical as they appear. Theydefinitely will not prevent the teams fromthinking economically, as the new engines are far more efficient and consume less fuel, so the races wont revolve around amount of fuel. There will however be no restriction on amount of fuel in qualifying.

#2 ERS

This ‘Energy Recovery System’ is set to provide more power to the engines than ever before. Most F1 fanatics will be familiar with the ‘KERS’ boost. The ERS functions on the KERS system with an additional electric motor. Last year, a max of 60kw of energy was permitted during the KERS boosts for upto 6.7 seconds a lap. This year, however, it can produce 150kw of energy for 30 seconds.

The second electric motor’s purpose is to utilize the heat that would have been wasted during braking, and converting it into valuable energy. This additional motor also increases the efficiency of the primary motor. The new motors have reduced the throttle lag. You might be familiar with the engines veering up half a second before the race. This is known as throttle lag. This lag has been eliminated with the dual motor system. Earlier the KERS used to be operated by the driver when he used to press a button. That is set to change, as the drivers now can depend on the engine management computer to do it for them.

These changes may seem interesting. However, there are still concerns over reliability, with Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner stating that the failure rate could be as high as 50%.

#3 Engine Replacement, Shape and Tyres

Last year, teams had access to eightengines before they suffered a penalty. This has now been reduced to five; each of the six components of the engine can be changed fivetimes before a team receives a penalty.

Some are calling the new cars ugly, while others dont seem bothered by the new looks of the car. The new shape could cause problems for both drivers and teams. The front nose has been reduced from 415 mm off the ground to 135 mm above the floor of the car. Sources are suggesting that teams may use vanity panels to smooth out the nose, but theyaddweight, so the teams will have their concerns about that. The chassis have been lowered as well. These changes are mainly concerned with safety, as a collision is now less likely to affect a driver and will prevent a car from flying off the track.

#4 Weight of the car

Earlier this year it was doubtful whether the likes of Nico Hulkenberg would get a drivers seat in a team. This was because of the new rule that increased the weight of the cars by 48 kilos to accommodate heavier engines. This however benefitted lighter drivers and hence it was in doubt whether teams would gamble on the taller and heavier drivers.

#5 Are these changes going to work?

Well thats for you to decide.

It might be said that this isnt the right way to go as the Formula One team hasnt been budgeting properly and hashad rising financial costs that may land up affecting teams.

On the other hand, it helps Formula One be modern and maybe a good decision in the long run considering the fact that their technology will be advancedand it will thereby remain relevant for the long standing future.

#6 Opinion Corner

Torro Rosso’s James Key lent his views on the changes: “There’s always concern there because your performance is relative. You think you’ve done a great job and then someone pops up with something… You’ve got no benchmark - if you’re going from one year to the next with stable regulations, you know what you’ve got to achieve to affect a step forward.

"Here there’s no benchmark at all. You’re kind of thinking ‘we’re going to set some ambitious targets, let’s hope they’re high enough, but not so high that they’re impossible to achieve and people get demoralized.'”