Finally! The teams are back in Europe and many of them have made improvements over the last four races especially with the new “super diffuser” allowance. I see many teams already doing some modifications to their cars… or so they claim. Ferrari state that they’ve lightened the car and have also improved aerodynamically (reported to be the “super diffuser” concept). A straight line test was done the other day and Ferrari state that they are encouraged by the improvements. Renault have also stated that they’ve made some improvements to the car but haven’t really specified their progress. I haven’t heard too much from other teams at this time but for the most part I’m sure that many of them are progressing to the “super diffuser” platform.
Ferrari F60B
I also think that Monaco will be a crap-shoot on who’s doing upgrades for their cars. Monaco is such a unique event that with perfect luck (or luckier than others) will win you the race. However, you create your own luck, right? After Monaco though I think that teams will really start to improve their cars and implementing the pieces they need to go fast.
The other big news was the price cap for 2010. According to reports from Formula1.com, teams are rewarded with more technical freedoms if they stay under the 40-million-pound price cap. Such freedoms include the removal or higher rev limiter on the engine, freedom of aerodynamics to the front and rear wing adjustability, in and out of season testing and more. I think that this will hurt the larger teams such as Ferrari, McLaren, BMW and Toyota. However with new teams like Brawn, U.S. Grand Prix Enterprise (formerly known as USF1) and potentially David Richards bringing in Prodrive, this is a huge leap forward for them to enter into F1. Speaking of USGPE and Prodrive, it’s been rumored that USGPE may be running a Cosworth engine and Prodrive would look into an Aston Martin engine. Both engines would be great new assets to Formula 1 and for the fans. Because we all know that what starts out on the race track may eventually work its way to our street cars. So let’s keep our fingers crossed!
In my Fantasy Formula 1 team, I’m really waiting for practice to finish before I make any preliminary picks. Now that the teams are back in Europe and teams are coming out with their new evolution of cars, I really and honestly don’t know who to pick. Obviously I’m hoping that Ferrari have found their feet again and can start winning races. I’m also pulling for Alonso to do well in front of his home crowd. B-Drivers are still unknown now more than ever. Button, Barrichello and Vettel are all strong picks for the event but they could start to fade away soon if the other teams have picked up or surpassed their evolutions. So I’ll wait for practice in a couple of days and hope for the best!
