Formula One 2006

A new formula this season The Formula One season is upon us again. Narain Karthikeyan will be with Wiliams as the fourth driver test, a...

A new formula this season

The Formula One season is upon us again. Narain Karthikeyan will be with Wiliams as the fourth driver test, and though his profile will remain low, he remains as involved.
For the fifth time in four years, F1 will have a new qualifying format, with drivers no longer confined to a single fast lap on an empty track. The new knockout system appears simple, but it offers multiple challenges to the drivers and teams.
Here8217;s why8230;
8226; A new three-part qualifying replaces the old one-lap shoot-out. The first two sessions will be of 15 minutes each, followed by a 20-minute final session
8226; Qualifying will last exactly one hour. Drivers may put in as many laps as they want to during any of the three sessions as long as they haven8217;t been eliminated
8226; First of those sessions will determine Sunday grid8217;s 17th to 22nd positions. All 22 drivers, each carrying a low fuel load, will compete to eliminate the six slowest drivers
8226; The next session will be for the 16 drivers left in fray, for the 11th to 16th positions
8226; The remaining ten fight ion the final session. The catch is that they will have to start with fuel like they plan to for the race proper

THE PROS :
8226; Driver8217;s consistency on test. No lap time set will mean elimination, even if there are more than six. Hence more lap times are important
8226; Those aiming to set best time on their last lap will have to think twice. A cautionary yellow flag in the closing minutes of the session could stall even the best
CONS 8212; :
8226; Tight schedule will no longer permit teams to make major set-up changes.
8226; Just setting a time to get into the next session is a job half done. Instead, the drive is complete getting the car physically back to the pits is important. So a spin-off or a stop with a mechanical gremlin would mean curtains
ENGINES:
8226; The capacity has been reduced from 3 litre V10 to 2.4 litre V8s.
8226; Engines must last two entire race weekends
DID YOU KNOW?
Scuderia Toro Rosso is the only team that won8217;t be using V8s this season 8211; the team has been permitted to use V10 engines with rev limiters fitted that will reduce the engine8217;s speed
TYRES:
8226; Tyre changes return during pit stops
8226; Teams may use as many as seven sets of tyres per driver during a GP weekend. One consequence of this is that if say, Kimi and Fernando are going head-to-head in a GP, the driver who has kept a final set of new tyres in reserve for his final pit-stop could gain a decisive advantage
DID YOU KNOW?
2006 will be the final season that Michelin tyres will compete in F1
8212; Micky Aigner