2014 Formula One Season and New Rules

The 2014 Formula One Season kicks off in Melbourne, Australia on the 16th of March.  2014 marks the 65th season of Formula One. Eleven teams and Twenty-two drivers are going to battle it out in nineteen races scheduled for the season. There have been a number of revisions since last year.  The Austrian Grand Prix makes a comeback after ten years, A Russian Grand Prix will be held for the first time ever, at Sochi. The Indian Grand Prix will not take place in 2014, it has been scheduled for an early season date in 2015. The Korean Grand Prix has been removed from the schedule. The Bahrain Grand Prix in April will be a night race this season. There are some noteworthy driver changes in the team line-up. Felipe Massa had left Ferrari at the end of 2013 and will drive for Williams this season. Kimi Raikkonen is returning to Ferrari after driving for Lotus F1 in the 2013 season. Mark Webber has retired from Formula One. Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg have left McLaren and Sauber respectively and are driving for Force India this year. Susie Wolff is a test and reserve driver for Williams and will be the first female driver to drive on a Grand Prix weekend since 1992. Susie Wolff will take part in Practice sessions. There have been some regulation changes. The biggest of which is the downsizing of the engine capacity from 2.4 litre naturally aspirated V8 to 1.6 litre turbocharged V6 engines. The engines will be limited to 15,000 RPM and there will be fuel flow restrictions as well. This has been done in the interest of making the sport more environment friendly. A major turn off for spectators and fans of Formula One is that, the turbocharged V6 engines are not going to sound half as good as the V8 engines did. The minimum require weight of cars has been revised from 642  kgs to 691 kgs to compensate for the heavier engine and integrated energy recovery system. In the interest of safety during accidents, the nose of the cars can be no more than 185mm above the ground, compared to 550mm allowed earlier. This has completely altered the look of the front of the car. (Picture Attached) .Another very interesting change is that, the final race of the season will offer double points to keep the championship spirit alive till the end of the season. It’l be interesting to see how these technical changes will affect the 2014 season. It’s just a matter of a little of 2 weeks to find out!