Comments on: F1 2009: New rules at a glance

By: qazuhb

qazuhb — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 12:49:55 +0000

Any clues about kers and adjustable flaps being used in the pre-season testing by any team(s) ?

By: Daniel

Daniel — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 12:37:02 +0000

@Adrian:
I wasn’t aware of that… in my comprehension top speed depended on a balance of aerodynamic drag and power, so there should be a top speed gain by KERS.

On the other hand: The gear ratio might have to be adjusted to avoid hitting the rev limiter. So there would be a acceleration disadvantage for the parts of the track where you don’t use KERS…

Maybe I’m wrong, just my 2 cents…

@Keith: Thanks for the interesting summary.

By: Patrickl

Patrickl — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 11:23:09 +0000

KERS only kicks in when the car is doing at least 100km/h.

Should be fun to see some of the cars all of a sudden pull away from the others.

By: Spot

Spot — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 09:51:15 +0000

If the new rules work the way I believe they are supposed to, then the slipstream effect should come into operation to hand the advantage back to the following car.

Slipstreaming is something that has fallen of the F1 fan’s vocabulary over the past couple of decades because the aerodynamics-influenced era has negated it due to the “dirty” air thrown up by the leading car.

By: Adrian

Adrian — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 09:39:21 +0000

Should probably add that a car with KERS won’t have a higher top speed than a non-KERS car. They’ll just accelerate faster (in theory) but will still have their top speed limited by the Rev Limiter…

By: Adrian

Adrian — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 09:06:37 +0000

“I’m not sure why they felt it was necessary to limit adjustments to only twice a lap. It seems like they are creating a monitoring headache for themselves (FIA & teams), and what is the penalty for a third adjustment.”

Actually with the standard ECU it shouldn’t be that hard to control or monitor. For starters the ECU can be programmed so that it is not possible to adjust it more than twice a lap and secondly, it will also record when it is used…

My question is, is it an either or scenario – ie the wing is either at x degrees or y degrees – where the driver simply pushes a button, or is it a constantly variable approach – where the driver would have a dial to adjust the flap between the 2 limits…

By: Tim

Tim — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 08:40:23 +0000

Nothing that I can remember in those years. Races tend not to be stopped much in recent years – even at Monza in 2000, where a marshall was killed after several cars collided at the second chicane, the race wasn’t stopped.

By: todd

todd — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 06:00:41 +0000

6 seconds per lap for kers, can you use 3+3? 3 seconds in 2 different parts of the lap?

By: Fer no.65

Fer no.65 — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 01:39:10 +0000

“The pit lane speed limit in qualifying and the race has been raised from 80kph (49.7mph) to 100kph (62.1mph).”

is this alright?… wasn’t that already changed few years ago?…

By: Mikkowl

Mikkowl — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 01:38:29 +0000

I don’t think it’s going to help much for overtaking. If you use the flap on the straight to overtake, what’s to stop the car you try to overtake from using it at the same time?