Welcoming in the new era of Formula 1

Welcome back F1 fans!

After a nice winter break the teams returned to the limelight this week with launches of the first batch of 2009 contenders; the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro F60, the Panasonic Toyota TF109 and most recently the Vodaphone McLaren Mercedes MP4-24. Four more teams will also showcase their vehicles next week, beginning with Renault on January 19th, 2009.

Technical changes for the 2009 season include a widened and lowered front wing in an attempt to reduce costs of track maintenance as the economic crisis hits hard for many Formula 1 venues. The aim of this change is to reduce costs of grounds keeping by using Formula 1 cars to mow the grass around the track when they veer off track, and to eliminate the necessity to rake out the gravel traps between sessions.

Further changes include the introduction of KERS, which not only gives drivers a momentary boost on-track, but also generates enough charge to shock and instantly kill unwanted rodents around the track within a 10ft radius of the vehicle (yes, that includes the notorious Montreal 'beavers' and Turkish strays...). The increased height of the rear wings also assists in reducing pests of the avian kind, and our sources indicate that several petitions to cancel the introduction of KERS put forward by PETA have already been dismissed.

The season kicks off in Melbourne on March 27th, 2009.

TF108 Aims For The Stars

Team Principal Tadashi Yamashina words of praise for the new challenger should give Toyota F1 drivers Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock some confidence for the upcoming season: "We expect to have a truly competitive car so our drivers should be aiming to finish in the points regularly and challenging for the podium."

And let's look back at what has been said about previous Toyota F1 cars:
(2007) "I’m very, very positive about this, and I personally think we should attack from round one." - 6th place in the Constructors

(2006) "We enjoyed such a successful year in 2005 and I am sure this trend will continue." - 6th place in the Constructors

(2005) "I now feel that we are in a much stronger position compared to our rivals given the number of regulation changes that we have had to take into consideration for 2005." - 4th place in the Constructors

(2004) "On occasions in 2003, we showed what Toyota is capable of. Our race result in Hockenheim and our top three qualifying performances in Indianapolis and Suzuka proved that we could do the job. In 2004, we have to use these achievements as a springboard, to focus on reliability and get the results we deserve. That means plenty of points and a constant progression during the year." - 8th place in the Constructors

(2003) "All the basic ingredients are in place for the team to make a big jump up the grid in 2003" - 8th place in the Constructors

Good luck Toyota... on achieving yet another sub-par performance with the biggest budget on the grid.