motorsports @ PETRONAS - F1 Feature: What's in store for the 2008 F1 Season

formula one - Facts

F1 Feature: What's in store for the 2008 F1 Season - Part 1

Share |

Formula One Feature
2008 FIA Formula One World Championship
What's in store for the season - Part 1

Towards the end of the 2007 season, the talk about town had been dominated by the championship drama between the season's protagonists from the two top teams. While the battles raged on out on track, behind the scenes the buzz was about all the technical and sporting regulation changes and updates for 2008. These included the impact of the ban on traction control and driver aides imposed by the sports' governing body as well as the compulsory use of the standardised electronics and extended-life gearboxes.

Essentially, the changes to the technical regulations imposed on the 2008 season follow on the back of those that were made in 2007. Moreover, the changes on the technical side also mirrored revisions to the sporting regulations, which has been argued could potentially impact the outcome of the races in a more dramatic fashion.

To better understand what these changes mean for 2008, the BMW Sauber F1 Team shed some light onto some of these changes and what they have done to adapt to these changes for the coming championship season.

Technical Regulation changes
Two rule changes in particular have given the BMW Sauber F1 Team engineers much to think about for the 2008 season. The first is the introduction of standardised electronics; and the second being the extension of the required service life for the cars' transmissions to four race weekends.

1. THE CONTROL ELECTRONICS
Technical regulations, Article 8.2 - Control Electronics:
"All components of the engine and gearbox including clutch, differential and all associated actuators must be controlled by an Electronic Control Unit (ECU) which has been manufactured by an FIA designated supplier to a specification determined by the FIA. The ECU may only be used with FIA approved software and may only be connected to the control system wiring loom sensor and actuators in a manner specified by the FIA."

Implication / Impact:
Under the new FIA regulations, the introduction of a standard electronics unit (SECU) for 2008 impacted the development of the chassis the most. The SECU eliminates a number of control systems, including traction control and EBS (engine braking system), or in layman's terms driver aides.

The net effect of this meant the car was considerably more nervous especially under acceleration and braking. For the drivers, the absence of traction control (TC) means that they would need to demonstrate an even finer touch with the accelerator and brake pedal, particularly in the wet. (Read the drivers' comments on the ban on TC)

To compensate for the loss of traction control as much as possible, the engineers at BMW Sauber F1 Team had to come up with several ingenious tweaks of design and pay particular attention on improving mechanical grip.

Nick studies the data before his drive at the team's test at Valencia in January

2. GEARBOX
Sporting regulations, Article 28.6 (a)
"Each driver may use no more than one gearbox for four consecutive Events in which his team competes. Should a driver use a replacement gearbox he will drop five places on the starting grid at that Event each time a further gearbox is used. Unless the driver fails to finish the race (see below) the gearbox fitted to the car at the end of the Event must remain in it for three further Events. Any driver who failed to finish the race at the first, second or third of the four Events for reasons beyond the control of the team or driver, may start the following Event with a different gearbox without a penalty being incurred." (please refer to other articles that have appeared on Formula One-related websites for the full regulation)."

Implication / Impact:
The changes that have followed in the wake of the engine freeze imposed at the end of 2006, has now been extended to include the gearbox.

With the exception of a few minor subcomponents, from 2008, each F1 car's gearbox must last four (4) consecutive race weekends and remain untouched for approximately 2,500km. This added to the weight, width and other requirements on the gear ratio, this meant that the BMW Sauber F1 Team had to completely redesign the gearbox. Whatever that had been used in 2007 no longer conformed to the new technical regulations.

In a conventional gearbox, the drive used to change gear is interrupted for approximately 50 miliseconds - which means the car has no forward power for less than a blink of an eye and the car simply rolls. The wind resistance generated at high speeds in F1 brakes the car around 1g during the absence of tractive power (in a normal road car, this would equal as powerful braking). The interruption of power every time the drivers shifts up a gear - which he will do some 2,000 times over the race distance of the GP of Monaco - adds up to a significant loss of time.

To address the break in power and the new regulation, the new BMW Sauber F1.08 is equipped with a new quick shift gearbox (QSG), which is designed to eliminate this break in tractive power by using an ingenious interplay of electronic and mechanical components.

In the second part of the feature, we look at other changes in the sporting regulations for 2008 that have been incorporated. These include the elimination of a spare car, regulation on fuel levels as well as changes to the qualifying format for 2008..

F1 Feature: What's in store for the 2008 F1 Season - Part 2

Other
BMW Sauber F1 Team Driver Profile: Nick Heidfeld
BMW Sauber F1 Team Driver Profile: Robert Kubica