Focus on 2009

[ArrowsFA1]

Honda Racing are believed to be the first team to switch all their design efforts onto the 2009 car, after signing off the final current year developments from their Brackley factory.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/68199


Fernando Alonso thinks Renault should consider abandoning development of this year's R28 if planned upgrades for the next two races are not a big success.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/68183

Ok, so Honda & Renault are hardly front runners, so this kind of decision is probably easier for them than Ferrari, McLaren or BMW, but it'll be interesting to see how concentrating on 2009 may affect this season.

At some point soon will we see no more 2008 car updates from anyone, and could this make for a rather static championship?

Will one of the top teams risk continuing 2008 development in the hope of getting the jump on those who focus on their 2009 car?

[ioan]

At some point soon will we see no more 2008 car updates from anyone, and could this make for a rather static championship?

Will one of the top teams risk continuing 2008 development in the hope of getting the jump on those who focus on their 2009 car?

The top teams will continue development on the 2008 contenders as long as there is a chance to improve or lose their position in the drivers and constructors championships.

[Storm]

I think atleast Ferrari and McLaren have the resources to keep developing their 08 car and simultaneously start working on 09 car.
Renault and Honda do need to start concentrating on next year as this year is as good as over...at the most Renault can expect a podium in a race or two due to Alonso's brilliance but he also has been taking too many risks and failing since the car isn't fast.

As for BMW its interesting, they would want to develop the car more in hope they can get more wins (and in case the top2 do not develop much and they are on the verge of catching them on speed) but also need to keep an eye on 09 so as they do not lose their firm 3rd spot.

[ArrowsFA1]

The top teams will continue development on the 2008 contenders as long as there is a chance to improve or lose their position in the drivers and constructors championships.
In doing so are they likely to damage their 2009 chances? Rich though the top teams may be, they do not have unlimited budgets & resources, and the 2009 regs mean major changes to the cars as opposed to the evolution of recent years.

As Red Bull's Geoff Willis said (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/68043) in Canada:
"We do certainly have to divide out time as efficiently as we can between the 2008 championship, trying to turn an equal fourth place into a secure fourth place, but at the same time not penalising ourselves for next year."

I think to a greater or lesser degree, all of the teams have a balancing act to manage.

[Mark]

That's how you will often see a team do really well in one year but be all at sea the year after, because they concentrated so much on development through the season they neglected the next years car, it can take a long time to recover from that.

[trumperZ06]

;) Doesn't McLaren have two designing teams, one working on the current year's chassis, the other focusing on next year's design?

Surely, Ferrari & BMW (Honda & Toyota as well),

can afford to run a second design team too.

[jens]

I don't know, where does this claim come from that who focuses on the next year early, will surely be in a beneficial situation? In 2007 Renault shifted focus on 2008 quite early, like late Spring. And now they are even worse. In 2004 Ferrari - having won titles in dominant style - concentrated on 2005 quite early. And failed badly. Oh, and remember how early McLaren introduced its 2004 challenger - MP4/19 - and you all know, how "competitive" it was.

I'm certainly not going to predict anyone's competitiveness in 2009 based on anyone's shift of focus.

[ArrowsFA1]

Doesn't McLaren have two designing teams, one working on the current year's chassis, the other focusing on next year's design?
I think quite a few teams do that. Mike Gascoigne was known for implimenting that kind of process at both Renault and Toyota, although I'm not so sure Force India have the resources to do the same.

[Mark]

Certainly it's true that when a design for a car is finished usually Oct-Nov the previous year then work is started pretty much immediately on the following years car.

But they are not completely seperate processes, development on the next years car is fed into the development of the current car, and lessons learned from the current car are passed back.

No part of a team will work in isolation from another.

[trumperZ06]

Certainly it's true that when a design for a car is finished usually Oct-Nov the previous year then work is started pretty much immediately on the following years car.

But they are not completely seperate processes, development on the next years car is fed into the development of the current car, and lessons learned from the current car are passed back.

No part of a team will work in isolation from another.

;) Agree both teams do work together & exchange information.

But as Mike (Arrows) and I both pointed out...

some constructors have two seperate design teams...

one working on the current year model,

the other team working on next year's model.

Quiter different from having only one team...

thus stopping (or reducing) development on the current year's model, in order to change over to the next year's chassis development.

[Garry Walker]

Ferrari supposedly has already had some next years parts in the wind-tunnel.

[jjanicke]

I read, a while back, that the issues related to, for example, the MP4/19 where due to the having to seperate development teams. And since then the boundary betweens the development teams has been significantly blurred so that developments from this year carry on to next.

[K-Pu]

If you don´t have enough resources and you have no hope of improving your results this season maybe it´s right to take this gamble.

But if you´re in a fairly good position you can lose competitivity this season and next one you have a "not-that-fast" car like the MP4-19 and the F2005.

As I said, I´d only do it if I´m hopeless this year.

[CNR]

this is old news from 2006

F1 2009 Regulations Released

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/606/A18358545



The FIA has rather quietly just released regulations for the season-after-the-season-after-next, and they appear to be the most radical ones yet. In short, changes consist of:

1)Constructors' Championship points no longer awarded to car manufacturer, ergo it can be assumed they will go to the engine manufacturer instead.

2)Innovative technology may only be used for one season, after which its "value to F1" is considered, and made part of the rules or not. Therefore, the governing body will decide what technology is in the cars, not the designers.

3)Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems, essentially a push-to-pass system powered by stored braking energy, will become mandatory for 2009.

4)Cars will be widened slightly, and a metre of extra space behind the rear wheels will be freed for various aerodynamic doodads.

Obviously these rules are another significant blow for the non-manufacturers, whose independance will effectively be curtailed by the enforced technological hike, which will make partnership with a large manufacturer necessary, who will in turn take their Championship points. This, and the further tightening of technical regulations, will give GP racing a totally different feel from 2009 onwards, as it moves into what will outwardly look to be a spec-series, and with a manufacturer/constructor relationship most similar to what is seen in MotoGP. In truth, this decline of the independants has been in progress ever since Renault joined Grand Prix racing in 1977, and the ensuing arms race drove ingenuity and the easy-going attitude out of F1, as can be seen by the decline of Chapman and Murray's engineering brilliance, and the rise of the cold 'professionalism' of McLaren International, and, more recently, Todt-era Ferrari. The marginalisation of new technology can only improve the actual spectacle, with controlled aerodynamics and more equal teams, and it's not as if the quality MotoGP is suffering from manufacturer dominance, is it?


will ferrari still supply force india and toro rosso

[Storm]

Sure if they get in the points it helps Ferrari in WCC right?

[ArrowsFA1]

More on this subject from BMW's Mario Theissen:

Q. Now that you're in with a chance of winning the World Championship, will you be channelling resources away from the development of the F1.09 in order to make the F1.08 even faster?
MT: "The challenge, of course, is to keep up with the development pace of the big teams over the course of this season and, at the same time, to push ahead with conceptual work on the F1.09. To this end, we will assign the available capacity very precisely to the areas where we need it, especially when it comes to aerodynamics."
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/68364

[Ranger]

this is old news from 2006

F1 2009 Regulations Released

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/606/A18358545



will ferrari still supply force india and toro rosso

Why would WCC points go to the engine manufacturer, considering that engine development is banned anyway?


I don't know, where does this claim come from that who focuses on the next year early, will surely be in a beneficial situation? In 2007 Renault shifted focus on 2008 quite early, like late Spring. And now they are even worse. In 2004 Ferrari - having won titles in dominant style - concentrated on 2005 quite early. And failed badly. Oh, and remember how early McLaren introduced its 2004 challenger - MP4/19 - and you all know, how "competitive" it was.

I'm certainly not going to predict anyone's competitiveness in 2009 based on anyone's shift of focus.

Neither.