This weekend will mark the beginning of a new season, one that brings so much change that the outcome of the championship is just as unknown as the one of the first race.
Not going to rant on how good or bad this or that change is in particular, but on the fact that change is good to start with, and that people are missing the big picture of why it's not only good but inevitable.
Let's focus on the essential. The engine + ERS = power unit.
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| 2014 Renault Sport F1 "Power Unit" |
People may be a bit confused because in the past things like turbos and electric(onic) aids have been banned in the name of purity, technologies that could (and eventually did) come to the road car in the form of active suspensions, traction control, launch control etc, so why is it that now all this can be used, more, it has to be?
Well, the ICE in this "power unit" is small. The turbos are there to minimize that size (or should I say maximize?) and also help manufactures develop technology for the final push of the commercial ICE (*). Many will no longer sell cars without any turbocharged engines from 2014 on. And in the other hand the ERS is way more powerful than KERS was. Soon the turbos may even get banned as the ERS improves over and over again.
Also Formula E Racing is going to evolve and help develop the electric motoring components, it'll be the test bed for the F1 of the future in my opinion. It will not evolve and take over the spotlight, it's F1 that will become fully electric in the future. That or it would lose the spotlight and become some fringe racing series.
So the coming years are going to be filled with new technology and a progressive shift to electric motoring. And that may be the biggest change and challenge F1 has ever faced. This is just the beginning.
Many DNFs will occur, yes. Drama, uncertainty. But that, is racing!
Final word on qualifying. Having a set of tyres reserved exclusively for the final Q3 and the time to make 2 attempts is very good.
(*) I do not think F1 is a "lab for the road", but an advanced laboratory where the most outrageous ideas come to life and get tested as to their viability. None of what goes into an F1 car's mechanics finds it's way into production in the short term. But the new F1 turbos will surely bring a lot of knowledge to manufacturers in a very short time.
