Formula One: 2016 Testing Preview

Aside from largely unchanged regulations, a few new names in the constructor series not a lot has changed for the Formula One series from last season to the new ones.  Speaking of things that have remained unchanged, let’s not our favourite slightly balmy octogenarian, Bernie Ecclestone. In fact, before we go into what’s new this year, let’s take a quick look at what the front man for Formula One management had to say about the upcoming season when asked for his thoughts ahead of testing in Barcelona this year. Now most people would probably lie about to protect the best interest of their company, but not our man Bernie who went on record to say and I quote “Formula one is the worst it’s ever been, and I would never spend my money to watch a race or to take my family to watch one”. Now let’s not write this off as one of Bernie’s usual rants, he further went on to clarify that he sees no point in a race in which the outcomes are predetermined. Which is fair. Considering the fact, the fact that most races held over the past few years rarely see any place changes between pole and flag. Things went south from there with a name calling agenda that was mostly directed at the formula one commission, which he called a cartel. Calling cartels illegal and the further stating that he was helplessly running something which he had no interest in.

Well, racing aside at least we will always have Mr. Ecclestone to keep formula one interesting. Next on his agenda, was former Ferrari boss Jean Todd who he claimed has become a diplomat and that he has no longer any interest in the successful running of the Formula One series, finally suggesting that Jean should continue whatever he was doing at the FIA and hand over the running of F1 to someone more capable. Although he didn’t say who. None the less, the show must go on, here’s a gist of actual changes to the running of the Formula One this season. For one, for those of you who missed the sound immersion of a Formula One car from the V8s of the past. Owing to the nature of the turbo charged V6 engines.  FIA took the matter seriously and after conducting a detailed insight into the construction of the exhaust, the found a way to filter the turbo waste gate to effectively give the new cars a boost in the amount of sound they make. As a result, most cars on the grid this year will feature twin waste gates flanking the exhaust, and teams will struggle to turn this new regulation to their advantage. That aside teams will also be allotted an extra power unit, per driver across the season owing to two extra races in the upcoming season, mostly this allowance comes in the form of a safety net rather than an all in all extension as most teams will be looking at a durability of five races per power unit. The major change for all the teams structurally speaking is the mandatory 20mm raise in the protection area around the driver and of course the increase of the side impact load on the car from 15 to 50 kilo Newtons, which probably comes after the untimely passing of Jules Bianchi last year. That aside, the introduction of Ultra Soft compound tyres and the fact that a team is allowed 3 compound changes per race, should throw a monkey wrench in the way people drive the series. However, team management have been complaining that the testing bank of 2, four day weekends placed close together will not allow them to effectively use the winter testing times to better their vehicles.