2009_Formula_One_season

Ads

2009 Formula One season

"F1 2009" and "Formula One 2009" redirect here. For the video game, see Formula One 2009 (video game).

The 2009 Formula One season will be the 60th FIA Formula One World Championship season. As it stands, there are a total of seven teams signed up to compete in the championship through an agreement with Formula One Management (reduced from eight following Super Aguri's pull out of the 2008 season), while the other three major manufacturers in the Grand Prix Manufacturers’ Association (GPMA) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) at the 2006 Spanish Grand Prix to compete in the 2009 season. There is also still a chance that Prodrive could debut in the 2009 season, given that no definitive statement has been made indefinitely abandoning the prospective team's F1 aspirations. However, given that customer cars - the basis of Prodrive's plans - will no longer be allowed in F1 from 2009, and further given that Prodrive is no longer guaranteed to be accepted on the 2009 grid after failing to meet their 2008 obligations, this must be seen as a very remote possibility.

Teams

Teams Signed with FOM

The following teams are signed with Formula One Management to compete in the 2009 season.

GPMA Manufacturers

The Grand Prix Manufacturers Association signed an agreement with Bernie Ecclestone and Formula One Management to end their threat of a breakaway series.

Teams and drivers

Team	Constructor	Chassis	Engine	Contracted Driver	Test driver(s)
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes	McLaren	TBA	Mercedes	Lewis Hamilton	TBA
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes	McLaren	TBA	Mercedes	Heikki Kovalainen	TBA
Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	Ferrari	TBA	Ferrari	Felipe Massa	Luca Badoer Marc Gené
Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	Ferrari	TBA	Ferrari	Kimi Räikkönen	Luca Badoer Marc Gené
BMW Sauber F1 Team	BMW Sauber	TBA	BMW	Robert Kubica	Christian Klien
BMW Sauber F1 Team	BMW Sauber	TBA	BMW	Nick Heidfeld	Christian Klien
ING Renault F1 Team	Renault	TBA	Renault	TBA	TBA
ING Renault F1 Team	Renault	TBA	Renault	TBA	TBA
Panasonic Toyota Racing	Toyota	TBA	Toyota	Jarno Trulli	TBA
Panasonic Toyota Racing	Toyota	TBA	Toyota	Timo Glock	TBA
Scuderia Toro Rosso	Toro Rosso	TBA	Ferrari	TBA	TBA
Scuderia Toro Rosso	Toro Rosso	TBA	Ferrari	TBA	TBA
Red Bull Racing	Red Bull	TBA	TBA	Sebastian Vettel	David Coulthard
Red Bull Racing	Red Bull	TBA	TBA	Mark Webber	David Coulthard
AT&T WilliamsF1 Team	Williams	TBA	Toyota	Nico Rosberg	Nico Hülkenberg
AT&T WilliamsF1 Team	Williams	TBA	Toyota	Kazuki Nakajima	Nico Hülkenberg
Honda Racing F1 Team	Honda	TBA	Honda	TBA	TBA
Honda Racing F1 Team	Honda	TBA	Honda	TBA	TBA
Force India F1 Team	Force India	TBA	TBA	Adrian Sutil	TBA
Force India F1 Team	Force India	TBA	TBA	Giancarlo Fisichella	TBA

Schedule

Confirmed Calendar changes

On February 3, 2007, it was announced that a new race in Abu Dhabi known as the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix will be added to the 2009 calendar as part of Formula One's expansion in the Middle East. The race will take place at the Yas Island Circuit which is currently being built on Yas Island by the construction company Aldar. On April 10, 2008, the organisers were told that the Grand Prix would take place in October 2009, but it was later confirmed on the provisional FIA calendar that this is not the case.
After being dropped in to the Fuji Speedway, the Suzuka Circuit will return to host the Japanese Grand Prix in 2009. The race will then alternate between the two circuits.
After the 2006 United States Grand Prix, Bernie Ecclestone and Ron Dennis announced the possibility of a new Grand Prix in South Korea entering in 2009. It has now been revealed though that the Korean Grand Prix will take place from at the soon-to-be built Korean International Circuit. In addition to this, India has been confirmed on the Grand Prix calendar in 2010 with the Indian Grand Prix taking place in Delhi.
On 12 May 2008 Bernie Ecclestone confirmed the 2008 French Grand Prix as the last race to be held at Magny Cours and as a result the French Grand Prix may be dropped from the 2009 Formula One season and possibly return at a location in Paris in 2010. After the race, however, he said that it would stay on the calendar, as they had a contract until 2011.
On 28 September 2008 Malaysia's Sepang circuit boss Datuk Mokhzani Mahathir has told the local newspaper The Star that Malaysia's F1 contract has been altered simply to accommodate a delayed race start, rather than conversion into a night race.
On October 7, 2008, the FIA formalized the 2009 season calendar with the dropping of the Canadian Grand Prix (for financial problems) and the Turkish Grand Prix moved to June 7, 2009. This will be the first year since 1958 there will be no Formula One Grand Prix in North America.

2009 race schedule

The calendar as published by the FIA on 07th October 2008

Round	Predicted Race Title	Grand Prix	Circuit	City / Location	Date	Time
Round	Predicted Race Title	Grand Prix	Circuit	City / Location	Date	Local	UTC
1	ING Australian Grand Prix	Australian GP	Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit	Melbourne, Victoria	29 March	17:00	06:00
2	Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix	Malaysian GP	Sepang International Circuit	Kuala Lumpur	5 April	17:00	09:00
3	Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix	Bahrain GP	Bahrain International Circuit	Sakhir, Manama	19 April	14:30	11:30
4	Gran Premio de España Telefónica	Spanish GP	Circuit de Catalunya	Barcelona	10 May	14:00	12:00
5	Grand Prix de Monaco	Monaco GP	Circuit de Monaco	Monte Carlo	24 May	14:00	12:00
6	Petrol Ofisi Turkish Grand Prix	Turkish GP	Istanbul Park	Istanbul	7 June	15:00	12:00
7	Santander British Grand Prix	British GP	Silverstone Circuit	Silverstone	21 June	13:00	12:00
8	Grand Prix de France	French GP	Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours	Magny-Cours	28 June	14:00	12:00
9	Großer Preis von Deutschland†	German GP	Nürburgring	Nürburg	12 July	14:00	12:00
10	Magyar Nagydij	Hungarian GP	Hungaroring	Budapest	26 July	14:00	12:00
11	Telefónica Grand Prix of Europe	European GP	Valencia Street Circuit	Valencia	23 August	14:00	12:00
12	ING Belgian Grand Prix	Belgian GP	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps	Spa	30 August	14:00	12:00
13	Gran Premio Santander d'Italia	Italian GP	Autodromo Nazionale Monza	Monza	13 September	14:00	12:00
14	SingTel Singapore Grand Prix	Singapore GP	Marina Bay Street Circuit	Singapore	27 September	20:00	12:00
15	Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix	Japanese GP	Suzuka Circuit	Suzuka	11 October	TBA	TBA
16	Sinopec Chinese Grand Prix	Chinese GP	Shanghai International Circuit	Shanghai	18 October	15:00	07:00
17	Grande Prêmio do Brasil	Brazilian GP	Autódromo José Carlos Pace	São Paulo	1 November	14:00	16:00
18	Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix	Abu Dhabi GP	Yas Island	Abu Dhabi	15 November	TBA	TBA

† As was the practice in 2007, if an agreement cannot be reached over the naming rights, then this Grand Prix will likely be named something other than the "German Grand Prix" - as the Hockenheimring currently holds all naming rights for the "German Grand Prix". The last Grand Prix to be held at the Nürburgring that was not named the European Grand Prix were held in 1997 in 1998, under the name Luxembourg Grand Prix. However, while currently the name "European Grand Prix" is reserved for the Valencia Street Circuit this could be changed to the "Mediterranean Grand Prix.

Changes

Driver changes

David Coulthard: Red Bull Racing → retirement
Sebastian Vettel: Scuderia Toro Rosso → Red Bull Racing

More Information

On 3 July 2008, David Coulthard confirmed that 2008 would be his final year of Formula One racing. He will stay on as a consultant and a development driver to the Red Bull Racing squad next season.
On 17 July 2008, Red Bull Racing announced that Sebastian Vettel would replace the outgoing David Coulthard in 2009.

Rule changes

On 22 December 2006, the FIA released the technical regulations for the 2009 season.

Along with changes to bodywork, vehicle weight and tyre size, the document includes details of a "Kinetic Energy Recovery System", or KERS This is a regenerative brake device that is designed to recover some of the vehicle's kinetic energy that is normally dissipated as heat during braking. The recovered energy could be stored electrically, in a battery or supercapacitor, or mechanically, in a flywheel, for use as a source of additional accelerative power at the driver's discretion.
After being banned since 1998, slick tyres will be provided by Bridgestone in 2009.
There will also be a cap on team budgets starting in the 2009 season.
Section 3.18 of the regulations contains details of "driver adjustable bodywork". The angle of incidence of elements in a defined area forward of the front wheels can be varied by up to 6 degrees and adjusted by direct driver input. A maximum of 2 adjustments can be made on any lap.

Broadcasting changes

The BBC regain coverage of Formula One in the United Kingdom after losing it to ITV in 1996. The deal will last for 5 years and includes TV, radio and online coverage rights.
In Spain, Telecinco loses the F1 coverage rights in favor of Mediapro, major shareholder of LaSexta.
In Bulgaria, TV7 have acquired the coverage rights for the 2009, and seasons from bTV.
ESPN Star Sports has agreed a new 5-year deal for the exclusive rights to broadcast Formula One in 24 Asian countries, including India, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and South Korea.
GlobalTV will be official broadcasters in Indonesia through .

Rumours

Rumoured regulation changes

The closing of the pit lane when a safety car is deployed may be abolished by the start of the 2009 season. During 2008, Rubens Barrichello and Nick Heidfeld have both been forced to pit when their cars were low on fuel and received penalties for refueling when the pit lane was closed. This happened again to Nico Rosberg and Robert Kubica during the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, for which they were punished with 10 second stop/go penalties.