2008 Rule Changes

[Ev0]

A freeze on engine technology, a single tyre supplier and four-race gearboxes are among the major changes to Formula One’s Sporting Regulations for 2008, as revealed by the FIA on Wednesday.

For the 2008, 2009 and 2010 seasons, teams will only be allowed to use one engine design, which must be submitted to the FIA for homologation no later than June 1 this year. Subsequent changes will only be permitted with agreement of the FIA and all other engine suppliers.

A single tyre supplier will be chosen for the same three-year period. At each race, every team will receive the same tyres - two dry-weather compounds, one wet-weather tyre and one extreme-weather tyre. Tyre warmers will be banned.

The two-event engine requirement will remain, but gearboxes will have to last four Grands Prix. Unscheduled changes of either item will lead to a 15kg weight penalty for the car concerned. This will replace the existing system of ten-place grid penalties. Spare cars will be banned.

Testing outside races will be limited to 30,000 km per year. At races, parc ferme conditions will be extended to run from 18.30 on Friday evening until the start of the race. Currently, cars do not enter parc ferme conditions until after qualifying.

New teams will no longer be required to lodge the US$48 million deposit currently needed to join the series. Instead they must pay a €300,000 entry fee. There will be more scope for the use of customer components between teams, but major car manufacturers will not be able to supply engines to more than two teams without the permission of the FIA.

The maximum permitted length of the Formula One calendar will grow to 20 races. The longest season to date has been 19.

http://www.formula1.com/news/4146.html

The freeze on engine technology and the change to a weight penalty really interest me. Also, the change in rules to encourage more teams to run sounds really good; I just hope they would change the points system to accomodate more teams if this actually does wind up attracting more teams to the sport.

And a 20 race calendar? I really hope they bring Spa back.

 

[Casio]

I personally don't like it.

First, I feel that F1 should always be on the edge. With new technology all the time. Real F1 fans know this makes up a lot of what makes the whole series interesting.

Second, what happens if one team submits an engine design that out performs all the others. Or one team submits one with a design error, or something. That team is advantaged/disadvantaged for 3 years!

 

[GilesGuthrie]

Yeah, I'm really anti- the engine freeze thing. The other rule changes seem to be prudent though.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

At least we'll have two good seasons before this happens.

 

[jphachi_roku]

Technological constraints only divert resources to other departments.

The main goal here is to lower the cost of racing in F1. $200M per season isn't actually cheap. In fact, stock holders of car manufacturers are starting to complain about the cost of racing in F1. Some even say that the cost is unsustainable causing worries and worse investors and stockholders pulling out their money.

It's sad that gone are the days where you can build your car in a garage and be competetive. Unlike today's F1 where you have to spend million and dollars and thousands of manhours just to get a car to race.

I think F1 should adopt a sister league like the GT300 class in JGTC all the cars race in one gran prix just like in JGTC to give teams with smaller budgets a chance to be competetive. More teams + smaller entrance fee = MORE MONEY and EXITING RACES for F1 management. I don't know why Bernie's not seeing this point. Probably means that he does not have passion for the sport and thinks of F1 as a means to fatten his wallet which is the most tragic of all.

 

[Casio]

Also, with this ridiculously low entry fee. Won't we just be seeing more Super Aguri's on the grid? And why would you need to ban spare-cars? If you wanted to improve racing, surely having the opportunity for more cars on the grid, is better then someone being hit in qualifying and having to sit out the race.

What a joke.

 

[graveslids]

Yeah, I'm really anti- the engine freeze thing. The other rule changes seem to be prudent though.

I can almost understand the engine freeze, money wise atleast. I am however happy about the lack of mention in the regs dealing with the ECU. Given the majority of engine tuning done anymore seemed to be the intake trumpets and ECU's, trumpets not withstanding we can hopefully look for still stronger engines in the future. Both horsepower and reliabity wise now that I think about it.

Also, with this ridiculously low entry fee. Won't we just be seeing more Super Aguri's on the grid?

What a joke.

The only thing I see wrong with Aguri is the forced planning that went into the effort. Not demeaning all the obvious hard work put into getting the squad onto the grid, but perhaps sitting out this season and being fully prepped for next would have been a brighter idea than the means that the team has undertaken. All in all however, I am impressed that they are even on the grid, backmarkers or not.

 

[Blake]

For the 2008, 2009 and 2010 seasons, teams will only be allowed to use one engine design, which must be submitted to the FIA for homologation no later than June 1 this year. Subsequent changes will only be permitted with agreement of the FIA and all other engine suppliers.

As Casio mentioned, this could cause big problems if a team has a reliability issue.

If, for example, BMW has a reliability problem, what’s to stop Toyota from not agreeing to let them change their engine design to something more reliable? BMW could be forced to use an engine that lasts about 800km for 3 years!

At races, parc ferme conditions will be extended to run from 18.30 on Friday evening until the start of the race. Currently, cars do not enter parc ferme conditions until after qualifying.

And now the point of running in the Saturday Practice session is…?

Other than that, I don’t see any major problems. That said, I don’t necessarily agree.

 

[Pupik]

Banning spare cars...why? Max can't just turn back the clock to 1970, he's not selling "customer cars" anymore, last I checked.

 

[graveslids]

New bit of news regarding the engine regs for '08, looks like a 5 year ban as opposed to the 3 year previously mentioned.

from Crash.net-


FIA backs five-year engine freeze.


Motorsport's governing body has agreed to extend its homologation period for Formula One engines to five years following a meeting with representatives of Ferrari, Renault and Cosworth in Italy.

The FIA's Max Mosley, Charlie Whiting and Peter Wright met with the two manufacturers and independent engine builder at Ferrari's Maranello headquarters, and emerged with an agreement to extend the 2008 engine rules through to the end of 2012, with the aim of 'encouraging research into engine efficiency and more effective use of available energy'. Furthermore, it is hoped that the manufacturers and teams will agree to advance the introduction of the 2008 homologation to take effect from the start of next season.

The principal outcome of the meeting, which featured one member of both the extended Concorde Agreement group and the rival GPMA, as well as the governing body, would appear to be a step towards Mosley's aim of cutting costs within F1, as only minor modifications would be permitted year on year, rather than the wholesale redesign of engines in search of performance gain.

A statement issued by the governing body on Monday listed areas in which alterations could be made, but stipulated that there would be tight controls on when developments need to be notified and completed.

"Each year, modifications to the engine can be homologated," the statement clarified, "Details will be delivered to the FIA before 1 January of the year in question, and a complete engine delivered before the first of February of that year.

"The elements of the engine which can be changed in this way on an annual basis, are:

- ports;
- combustion chamber shape;
- valve size, shape, and angle;
- piston crown (the weight of the piston must remain the same, as must piston ring position and compression height);
- camshaft profiles and valve actuation kinematics;
- intake manifolds;
- injector nozzles (not injector actuator);
- spark plugs;
- changes to the cylinder head consequential upon and limited to those resulting from the above."

The FIA also insisted that 'changes to the engine on the fair and equitable principle' would be limited to those that the governing body decided were necessary only for cost reduction or reliability. No modification will be permitted if it may result in a performance gain. All changes will be published by the FIA.

What remains to be seen is how the other teams/manufacturers respond to the announcement, particularly those that feel that they may be handicapped by the lengthy freeze or feel that halting development is not in keeping with F1's place at the cutting edge of technological advance.