2014 marks a brand new era for F1 with a novel vision of producing greener, safer cars which in turn has effected multiple changes in cars from previous years. Pirelli will act as the official Tire supplier for the 2014 season too.
Insight to season here – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Formula_One_season
There will be 19 races in 2014 with the notable addition of Russia as the newest track in F1. The omissions are Korea and India with the latter expected to come back in 2015. Notable driver changes are of Kimi coming back to Ferrari, Return of Kobayashi, Massa at Williams and Rookie Kevin at McLaren.
Technology Changes for better or for worse
The most notable change this year is the reduction of capacity to Turbo powered V6 engines.
Changes in rules here – http://www.formula1.com/inside_f1/rules_and_regulations/sporting_regulations/12877/
Video Explanation of rule change – http://www.formula1.com/news/technical/2014/0/1133.html
Change in Engine capacity to V6 is a downgrade from the v8 engines that were run from 2006 till 2013 and the v10 engines and v12 that were there before. F1 will have to get used to a new sound (we don’t call it noise as for F1 lovers, the sound of the engine is Sweet Music) and one could hear a soft spot when the ERS comes to play. Testing is Jerez is underway and this video will indicate the sounds we will have to get used to in the 2014 season. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s99QFe6htJ4
Below video on youtube will indicate the sound differences and traction control kicking in over the past 2 decades.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UoQ3Da5zyo
Previously F1 has seen manufacturers coming up with engines of different capacity along with a v16, 1.5 ltr engine first seen at Silverstone in 1951. Complete history of Engine changes here – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formula_One_engines
To support the reduction of engine capacity and to bring in the green aspect to the sport the KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) has been modified to ERS (Energy recovery System) which charges 2 battery packs under breaking (as in KERS) and the waste heat from the Engines turbo charger. How it works – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vIjJg0lXgc
The fuel limit per race day has been reduced to 100 kg from a 160 + kg before. Meaning the engines ideally should be more fuel efficient in 2014.
Another notable change is the reduction of the height of the chassis which has resulted in teams coming up with various designs for Noses. Whilst some cars look fine with the new nose configurations, some do look terrible.
The rear end of the F1 2014 cars have also changed from previous years with the notable change of the missing Double Defuses made famous through the 2009 Brawn F1 team that won Jenson Button his only world title. This year’s regulation indicates having a single exhaust blowing out the hot engine air without the additional diffuser. However, we see a clever design by McLaren that has a very low exhaust blowing the hot air to a lower diffuser. Some teams lead by Redbull has already questioned its legitimacy. We will leave the decision making to the legislators and await results.
