I’m a bit of a fan of Formula 1 motor racing. I’ve been watching it on and off for many years, mostly off during the years of Schumacher/Ferrari domination. When one driver or one team becomes dominant it gets boring. I didn’t watch the last couple of seasons because it looked like Sebastian Vettel was following in the footsteps of Michael Schumacher but this season I’m become more interested.

The change in regulations this year have made me pay attention; 1.6L engines instead of 2.4L, V6 instead of V8, turbo charged instead of normally aspirated, and a whole host of other changes. But I believe that the most significant change is the move from Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) to a system closer to full hybrid.

noise

Listening to the responses of most fans though, after the first race in Melbourne two weeks ago, the majority of people seemed most concerned by the noise of the engines, or rather the lack of it. True the cars are not as loud as they were, but they used to be extremely loud. True they sound a bit truck like when traction control or engine mapping takes over (and true my Truck has a bigger engine than the new F1 cars), but they used to be V12 or V10 engines so why did we put up with the mere V8?

From what I’ve heard the new regulations are more likely to level out the playing field between the teams and that might be a good thing when it comes to single team or single driver dominance.

I’ve got a lot of hippie friends and I’m sure they’ll be much more inclined to be interested if it’s greener. And, let’s face it, I don’t really understand what I’m watching, all the cars end up looking the same at a distance and I can’t tell one team from another when they’re going past on the track, let alone recognise the drivers. For me Formula 1 is an endless experience of, “Oh look, a car!” and “Look, another car!” followed by, “There goes another one!”

hybrid

Formula 1 has always been at the cutting edge of technology and it’s currently developing the technology that we will all use in the future, as it always has, and this time around it’s hybrid.

Okay so I drive a Truck, and I will probably always drive a Truck. My diesel will never be the sophisticated technological hybrid that we see on the screen, but at least it sounds a bit more like a Formula One car now.