AUSTRALIA'S NUMBER 1 MOtOMSPORTMONTHLY
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No.382 APRIL 2009 Australia $7.95 NZ $8.50 inc GST
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MEET THE NEW GENERATION
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Lifestyle Apparel for the Sports Motoring Enthusiast,
Visit our oniine store at:
www.racerallyroad.com
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Issue 382 APRIL 2009
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NEWS 4
Winner takes All FIA changes points system, for now
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Photo Credits:
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KERS or Curse? Differing views on FTs latest toy
12 The Beastly Boys Red car, your mates and Targa. Bewdy!
Peter Bury Dirk Klyr:smith Contents:
18 Winding Back
Cover:
A ripping yarn. About a tunnel. Honest
sutton-images.com
OPINION 15 Motor Mouth 24 Box Seat
Mosley got Formula 2 right
82 The Back Page
eNews appeared. [Was that only 2 years ago?]
The Ups and Downs of FI's Testing Winter
FEATURES 22 Five Minutes with Mario Theissen n
26 All in the Family Todd and Rick Kelly on how, and why, they started afresh 34 Bright does the Time Warp, Again... Ford's V8 Supercar star tries out the Biante-winning Mustang 42 The colours of the Renault Rainbow How Pat Symonds plans to upset McLaren and Ferrari 48 Wolf. Williams. Benetton. Ferrari. Honda. Me! Ross Brawn talks about his biggest move yet 52 Growing up in Public Four Fujitsu V8 drivers make the step for 2009 58 Ten out of Ten Inside Ten Kate Honda's winning (and tall!) team
May issue on sale April 29
NATIONAL On Track 64
Formula 3's latest Brit, Joey Foster
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40years of Formula Ford in Australia
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McLaren-Mercedes Lewis Hamilton
Heikki Kovalainen
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Ferrari Kimi Raikkonen Felipe Massa
FI 2009 The new FI season is here. PHIL BRANAGAN looks at some ofthe changes before the lights go out
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HE Formula 1 teams are
preparing their charges for this weekend's Australian Grand Prix with a late but fundamental change to the way that the World Championship will be decided. Last week,the FIA announced that the World Motor Sport Council had determined that the driver who scores the most wins during the course of the season will win the title and the current pointscore system, 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1, will be used in the Drivers'Championship only event of a tie. The Constructors' Championship remains unaffected by the changes. "The WMSC accepted the proposal from Formula One Management to award the drivers'championship to the driver who has won the most races during the season," said the FIA in a statement. "If two or more drivers finish the season with the same number of wins,the title will be awarded to the driver with the most points, the allocation of points being based on the current 10,8,6 etc. system. "The rest of the standings,from second to last place, will be decided
by the current.points system.There is no provision to award medals for first, second or third place. The Constructors'Championship is unaffected." The Formula One Teams' Association FOTA had lobbied the FIA to change the system to change the points system to 12,9 and 7 points for the first three positions, with the next five placing to receive the same points as the system used to the end of last season.This was rejected by the FIA. While not adopting fully the 'medals'system pushed by Formula One Management boss Bernie Ecclestone,the new initiative does represent a major shift in the way the sport is run. Had the'most wins'system been in place in 2008, Felipe Massa would be coming to Australia with the number 1 on his Ferrari, rather than Lewis Hamilton carrying that marker on his McLaren-Mercedes. One of the intended aims of the new system is thought to be to stop a driver who consistently gathers points, together with the odd victory, and therefore seals the title early, as Michael Schumacher motorsportmews
ScbastiM Buemi Sebastien Bourdon
Red Bull-Renault Mark Webber
Sebastian Vettel ”:r
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New points, new champion? Under the 2009 race-winning ruies, Feiipe Massa,above, wouid have won the 2008 title.
did earlier this decade.The problem may be, however, quite the opposite; that should one team get on top of the technical package resulting from the raft of changes brought in for 2009, and gain an advantage,the season could be as good as over before the end of the northern summer. Of course,these changes were announced on Tuesday March 17 and, with 10 days'worth of negotiating time before the cars roll out at Albert Park, much could potentially change in the interim. www.mnews.coin.au
OTHER changes mooted for Formula 1 this season appear to be a boon for fans attending the race, the television viewers and the media. Drivers will be required to attend mandatory autograph sessions in the pitlane during the first day of practice - usually a Friday - and will also be obligated to be accessible to the media after each race, unless they finished on the podium (and therefore, attended the press post-race media conference.) in many races, particularly those in Europe, drivers have disappeared immediately after races and, in some cases due to a premature retirement, left the track even before the chequered flag. Another area that will be less'grey' from now on will be the mystery of which drivers are carrying what fuel loads. The FIA has announced that it will publish the weight of every car as it finished the qualifying sessions, the final period of which is set with cars carry'race'fuel loads. As a results, commentators and the media will have a much better insight into a team's race strategy prior to the race.
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