It is nearly time, just one week to go

(Mercedes AMG F1 Team)

 

There is just one week to go before the sun rises on the 2014 Formula One season Down Under in Melbourne Australia.

 

This winter has seen the Formula One rule book ripped up and completely rewritten. So, what's new for 2014? The biggest change for this year is that the 2.4 litre V8 engines have been replaced by smaller more economical 1.6 litre V6 turbocharged power trains.

 

The introduction of new engines was so that Formula One would become for relevant to the motoring industry and regular production cars. Since 2009, the sport has used Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems which enabled drivers to gain an extra 80 horsepower for 6.7s if used all at once or for a short periods of time during a lap.

 

For 2014, the Motor Generated Unit (MGU-K) gives drivers double the boost power that they had last year and they can use it for up to 30 seconds during a lap.

 

KERS is no longer a button on the steering wheel but has instead been incorporated into the accelerator pedal. There is instead a special overtake button on the steering wheel which will aid drivers during the race.

 

The Energy Recovery System is connected to the turbocharger so that it can be quickly charged up during a race and this is referred to as TERS (Turbo Energy Recovery System). This year, greater importance has been placed on fuel saving and as a result teams are restricted to running their car's with 100 kilo's of fuel if they are found to have used more then this amount during a race the driver will automatically be excluded from the race result.

 

This season brings with it the introduction of a penalty points system which works on the same principle as road car points. If a driver accumulates 12 point's over the course of a season their Super Licence will be suspended for one race.

 

The FIA have also introduced a five second in race time penalty for minor offences. Last season drivers were allowed to use eight engines over the course of the season, this has now been reduced to five per season.

 

The FIA has also introduced double points for the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi of November 23. As a result the points for the final race will break down as follows:

 

1st - 50

 

2nd - 36

 

3rd - 30

 

4th - 24

 

5th - 20

 

6th - 16

 

7th - 12

 

8th - 8

 

9th - 4

 

10th - 2

 

This sport is introducing a new brake by wire system which will be operated for the rear wheels due to the extra energy recovery units.

 

For the first time Formula One cars will have eight speed gearboxes. The gear ratios have been set pre-season and cannot be changed during the season however due to the fact this is the first season of this gearbox teams are allowed one joker during the year.

 

This season the FIA have introduced a Pole trophy to be awarded to the driver who scores the most amount of pole position's over the course of the season, should there be a tie break then it will go to a count back scenario.

 

The weight of the car has been increased from 642KG to 691KG. Drivers will now have career numbers which they will have for the remainder of their F1 careers. The number 1 will reserved for the reigning world champion.

 

Sebastien Vettel 1

Daniel Ricciardo 3

 

Nico Rosberg 6

Lewis Hamilton 44

 

Kimi Raikkonen 7

Fernando Alonso 14

 

Romain Grosjean 8

Pastor Maldonado 13

 

Jenson Button 22

Kevin Magnussen 20

 

Nico Hulkenberg 27

Sergio Perez 11

 

Adrian Sutil  99

Esteban Gutierrez 21

 

Jean Eric Vergne 25

Daniil Kyvat 26

 

Felipe Massa 19

Valtteri Bottas 77

 

Max Chilton 4

Jules Bianchi 17

 

Kamui Kobayashi 10

Marcus Ericsson 9

 

Over the winter it was announced that Eric Boullier had left the Lotus F1 Team and had taken up the newly created role of Racing Director at McLaren, replacing Martin Whitmarsh at the outfit. It is unclear what Whitmarsh will do next however the returning Ron Dennis has not ruled out the possibility of him staying at the McLaren group.

 

The Lotus F1 Team have yet to confirm who will replace Boullier permanently however team chairman Gerard Lopez is currently filling that role. It is thought that the team are interested in appointing Olivier Quensel as their team boss so watch this space. It is unclear whether a new boss will be announced before the first race next week.

 

Speaking of races, Russia will make its Formula One debut at the Sochi circuit while Austria returns to the calendar at the Red Bull Ring.

 

It was announced on Thursday that the Williams F1 Team have signed a multi year title sponsorship deal with Martini and is now known as Williams Martini Racing.

 

(Williams Martini Racing)

 

The 2014 Formula One season will be a wide open one and it is impossible to predict who will win the first race of the season let alone who will win the championship. It is going to be interesting to see how Kimi Raikkonen gets on at Ferrari second time around as he re-joins the Italian team for the first time since 2009 and will partner Fernando Alonso.

 

Marcus Ericsson will make his Formula One debut next weekend for the Caterham F1 Team as will Kevin Magnussen who replaces Sergio Perez at McLaren. Perez has joined Sahara Force India. Kevin's father Yan drove for Stewart for one race. Russian Daniil Kyvat will also make his debut in Melbourne as he replaces Daniel Ricciardo at Toro Rosso as the Australian has replaced Mark Webber as Sebastian Vettel's team mate at Red Bull Racing.

 

So, who are the team to beat in the first race? The Williams Martini Racing team have shown great speed and reliability and could be the team to beat in Australia. Felipe Massa set the fastest of all on the final day of the Bahrain test.

 

Force India and Mercedes AMG F1 look extremely quick too and Lewis Hamilton has been installed as the early favourite to take the win on Sunday. So at this stage next week we will have our first winner of 2014...The question is...Who will it be? SEVEN DAY'S TO GO!!

 

 

©Ben Johnston 2014