Friday 1 May 2009

More Changes in F1

After all the changes that went on over the winter in order to make Formula 1 more competitive (ironic considering the dominance so far of Brawn GP) as well as to cut cost's, the FIA have now brought in yet another rule change, to help the cause.

With the current financial crisis causing massive repercussions on the car industry, the FIA have decided to implement a salary cap as of next season, which will allow all teams a budget of £40million. 

This however ISNT mandatory, but teams that do comply will be given perks, which come in the shape of greater technical freedom and unlimited out-of-season testing. 

The cap will also hopefully encourage new teams to participate in the 2010 season, with up to 26 cars lining up on the grid in Melbourne come next March. 

So is this cap concept a good thing for the sport? 

Well in terms of wider participation, yes, the more teams the more drama, you would assume, and the more competition can only be good for the sport. 

We have though already seen how the major teams have struggled so far this season with this seasons rule changes and it will put into question if these teams will be able to get their head around this seasons rules, under the budget that comes in next season. 

World Champion Lewis Hamilton's best finish this year is 4th for his McClaren team, and as for Ferrari they are also having a tonne of problems with Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa picking up three points between them (well Raikonnen has all of them, just to be fair).

McClaren and Ferrari though are the makers of their own downfall this season, with both teams publicly admitting that it was their continued focus on last years title bid that has lost them valuable time in the making of a car for this season, with the new rules. 

You would like to think that McClaren and Ferrari will learn from their mistakes, and with the cap coming in, they will surely be forced to plan early for their 2010 car's, and with McClaren and Ferrari not being up to pace with the likes of Brawn GP and Toyota, they will presumably not have any title ambitions to concentrate on for this season. 

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