Formula One - Injection of rules and interest

Since 1983 I have been a devoted follower and critic of Formula One Racing. My involvement with motorsport generally has over time been much more than an armchair enthusiast, yet in this one area of the sport I do along with millions of others worldwide watch this twentyfirst century version of gladiators in millon pound chariots.

For the last seven years, F1 has declined to the point I was loosing interest. Races were being won and lost by pit stops and not through the skill of the driver. All the time F1 continued to take hold as an international business first, sport second. Then something happened.

The rules were revisited to reduce the overall costs of F1, tobacco sponsorship bans across Europe forced teams to look to other sponsors to help pay for the teams, travel and development of cutting edge technology. New rules were thrashed out and implementment for the start of the 2005 season, the Australian F1 Grand Prix.

Yesterday the grid formed for the first race of the season, Michael Schumacher in his Ferrari was at the back of the grid, penalized for an engine change since the practice session. This alone was enough to spark my interest that this was going to be a different race.

Benetton Renault had their car on pole, the new Red Bull F1 Team, formerly Jaguar F1 formerly Stuart Grand Prix who had promised much and never truly delivered had a car of 4th spot driven by David Coulthard (GB) formerly of McLaren, ahead of the McLarent cars.

Mark Webber, formerly of Jaguar had secured a coverted seat with Williams and was on third place on the grid racing in front of his Australian fans as the ozzie driver on the grid.

I am not aware of all of the new rules and I will take some time to bring myself up to speed include the banning of tyre changes during pit stops. Exceptions are that one tyre may be changed in the event of a puncture, and all tyres may be changed from slicks to wets if needs be. This rule challenged the tyre manafactures to develop a hard compound tyre that would last race distance at race speeds.

At the end of the race those cars have their engines sealed by the F1 scrutineers and must start the next race with the same engine.

These two rules alone dramatically change the landscape that has been F1 for too many years. Anything to add a little drama and excitement is a good thing. I do however hope that this one race was not the exception of a desert of clinical races of previous years. I figure that it is time for armchair enthusiasts who have been forced to seek out NASCAR as an alternative to look back again at F1. This could truly be the year the winds of change blow for the better in F1.

My predictions for the 2005 season.

Ferrari will as always be strong, but not as strong and dominant as previous years.
Williams have good drivers especially Mark Webber that will bring their performance to a higher level and should include a couple of wins.
Benneton Renault are the dark horse that will take on the prancing horse of Ferrari and surprise everyone.
McLaren, favored will not fare as well as they should.
Watch out for Red Bull, formerly Jaguar in the first six races. They will move back down the grid as the season progresses but show well enough to secure additional sponosrship for the european races.

It is difficult to assume anyone other than Schumacher will win the drivers championship this year. I predict that it will be a hard fought challenged and will not be secured until the last or penaultimate race.

The constructors championship will be won by Renault.

I am sticking my reputation on this, such as it is these days.