Variables Aplenty in F1's 2006 Equation
Written by: Adam Cooper
Balen, Belgium – 2/28/2006
Less than two weeks remain before the 2006 World Championship kicks off in Bahrain, and that time will no doubt race by, much to the frustration of engineers who could do with just another week of testing.
For the rest of us the first race cannot come soon enough, for the start of the season promises to be fascinating. There’s much to catch the attention, and not just the arrival of the new 2.4-liter V8 engines. The grid will certainly look very different compared to last year, as four long established teams now have new identities, and there’s also a brand new 11th team in Super Aguri, which is likely to be woefully uncompetitive at the start of the season.
Then of course we have the new knockout qualifying system, which promises to be a thrilling event in its own right, as well as throwing in a degree of unpredictability. The other big change this year is a return to tire changes at pit stops, which will make strategy choices far more interesting than they were last year.
"The qualifying system is maybe complicated to explain to the people, but they will understand it after two or three races," says world champion Fernando Alonso. "The pit stops will maybe more fun for the people to watch. We will see, but I’m happy with the rule changes."
As pre-season testing in Europe winds down, it’s still impossible to predict with any certainty how the opening races will turn out. Some cars have speed and reliability, others have one or the other but not both, but even as ever testing doesn’t tell the full story. It’s been a very cold winter in Spain, so the miles run at Barcelona, Jerez and Valencia won’t tell the full story. Only three teams chose to test in the heat of Bahrain in February, and it will be interesting to see if they ultimately benefit from that decision.
The cars which make the podium in these early races won’t necessarily still set the pace once we get back to cooler climes in Europe. The rate of development at the major teams is now so extraordinary – Toyota has a revamped TF106B scheduled for Monaco – that as the season gets going, the picture could change dramatically.
A major set of changes always serves to shake things up. The switch to 2.4-liter V8 power for 2006 has of course proved to be a serious undertaking. Most engine men admit that they were able to carry over a lot of knowledge and even parts from the V10 era, but it is still a major challenge to meet performance and reliability targets.
The second race in Malaysia could be the single toughest test of the year for all the new engines. As last year, they have to last for two Grand Prix meetings. Thus anyone who finished the Bahrain GP will be using the same engine, and to have two of the hottest races right when the engines are still so new is the ultimate challenge, and it will be fascinating to see who has got it right.
Concerns over reliability won’t necessarily manifest themselves only in spectacular failures. The other signs will be drivers doing very few practice laps over the course of the weekend in order to save mileage (much easier for the teams with third drivers on Friday), while poor straight line speed figures leave nowhere to hide. Every team has the option to ‘de-tune’ its engines in order to increase longevity, although that does of course mean a loss of power – in Bahrain last year BMW and Williams had a cooling problem and the cars were hopelessly slow on the straights.
The downsizing to V8 power has had a much wider impact, and especially on aerodynamics. The emphasis has switched from finding every last scrap of downforce, to improving overall efficiency. The goal is to win back some of the straight line speed sapped by the power reduction. Handily, the smaller engines have also allowed designers to create tidier and less draggy rear ends, while the reduced cooling requirement has also favored drag reduction. All this means that the guys in the wind tunnels have been as busy as ever over the winter, and not all of them will have got it right.
Tires are of course the real key to what happens this year. The balance of power in the tire war has changed as Bridgestone now has five teams to the six of Michelin, having taken big players Toyota and Williams on board. Thus no longer is it basically Ferrari and Bridgestone versus the rest.
With the teams now shared out on a more equitable basis, Bridgestone is in a much stronger position, but it would be wrong to assume that the return of race tire changes will automatically see the Japanese company bounce back to where it was in 2004, or that Michelin will do a worse job than it did last season. The contest will no doubt ebb and flow as the year goes on.
Despite all the changes, winter testing has indicated that the reigning world champions are still in a pretty strong position. The new Renault R26 has looked good from the start, and it could well be the car to beat, although Honda and McLaren are in the picture, the latter having seemingly dug itself out of serious engine problems. As ever, Ferrari’s potential is closely linked to that of Bridgestone, and reliability problems in testing have not helped.
Bahrain should be a fascinating weekend, but so too will Malaysia the following week, as the new V8 engines come to the end of their first two-race cycle. Some people are going to be very nervous until the flag falls…
RACER Senior Writer Adam Cooper has not missed a Grand Prix since Suzuka in October 1994. His interest in motorsports was sparked at an early age, and as a dedicated James Hunt fan, he persuaded his folks to take him to his first F1 race at age 10. In his early teens he served as gofer for a local racer who fielded a March Formula 2 car on a shoestring budget.
Adam has written books about Michael Schumacher, Eddie Irvine and 1960s racer Piers Courage, and currently writes for Road & Track and RACER magazines.
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