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The future of Formula One is a much-speculated area of interest in the world of motor sport. There is always uncertainty about the future of the sport, and disagreements about the direction in which Formula One should progress both in the general public and within the governing body itself.

Formula One went through a difficult time in the early 2000s. Television ratings dropped, and many fans simply switched off.^{[citation needed]} This was largely attributed^{[by whom?]} to Ferrari's dominance from 2000 to 2004, a period in which Michael Schumacher won the World Championship for five years in a row. The massive commercial interests of car companies and team sponsors are also at odds with the demand for an exciting spectator sport as the drivers are encouraged to reduce risk to satisfy the funders.^{[citation needed]} Other factors include the use of driver aids supposedly taking the skill away from the driver and putting it in the hands of the mechanics. Furthermore, many of the smaller teams such as Minardi and Jordan found themselves subject to takeovers as they struggled to keep up with the high cost of the sport. For this reason many rule changes have been proposed for the future.

On June 19, 2009, FOTA announced that eight teams out of the ten teams in Formula 1 would participate in a breakaway championship the following season in opposition to the regulations set for 2010, in particular a proposed £40m budget cap. However, FOTA and the FIA reached an agreement, thus a breakaway series is extremely unlikely.

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Contents 1 The thinking behind rule changes 1.1 Safety 1.2 Cost-cutting 1.3 Excitement for fans 1.4 Relevance to the motor industry 1.5 Environment 2 Technical regulations 3 Qualifying 4 Politics 5 Future proposals 5.1 FIA proposals 5.2 Teams' proposals 5.3 Fans' proposals 6 Breakaway series 7 Circuit design 8 Grands Prix 8.1 Contracted races 9 Constructors 9.1 New 2010 Entries 9.1.1 Campos Meta Racing 9.1.2 Virgin Racing 9.1.3 USGPE 9.1.4 Lotus F1 Racing 9.2 Post-2010 Entries 9.2.1 Prodrive 9.2.2 ART Grand Prix 9.2.3 Lola Cars 9.2.4 Epsilon Euskadi 9.2.5 Brabham GP 9.2.6 Superfund 10 Drivers 11 See also 12 References

[edit] The thinking behind rule changes

There are several key areas that determine changes to the rules of Formula One.

[edit] Safety

Following the deaths of Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna at the San Marino Grand Prix in 1994, safety has been an important motive for rule changes. The FIA see limiting speeds as essential, and it is now common for there to be a radical overhaul of the rules every few years in an attempt to cut speeds. Inevitably, engineers find new ways to make cars as fast as they were before, leading to a perpetual cycle.

[edit] Cost-cutting

The announcement at the end of the 2004 season that Ford (former owner of Jaguar Racing) would pull out of Formula One is seen as evidence of the need to cut the cost of running a Formula One team.

It has long been a task of the FIA to try to reduce costs via regulations, to allow smaller, privately-funded teams to be able to compete with manufacturer-run teams. However, many believe that rather than reducing costs, rule changes may actually lead to an increase in costs, as bigger teams such as McLaren Mercedes and Scuderia Ferrari spend large amounts of money on research to find legal ways around the new regulations. This often leads the smaller teams to an even larger disadvantage than before.

[edit] Excitement for fans

Many would also like to see drivers demonstrate more skill on the track. Some believe that it would be silly to have road cars that are more technically advanced than Formula One cars. However, most now agree that getting rid of electronic driver aids would be a good way to increase the excitement of Formula One. The format of the sport is also a hot topic, and there is always talk of changing the format of qualifying. Another area that is often discussed is the balance between ease of overtaking and the level of strategy that is required with many people^[who?] arguing that the balance in recent years has been too much toward strategy.

[edit] Relevance to the motor industry

Recently, the focus of changes is moving towards making the research and development that goes into Formula One more relevant to the motor industry in general.^[1] This is in response to the increased involvement of major car manufacturers in place of tobacco sponsored independent teams. Through the GPMA, the car manufacturers have been able to put pressure on the FIA to force the direction of changes to the sport.

[edit] Environment

Concern for the sport's image may also see changes to address the sport's environmentally unfriendly image. Use of technologies such as bio-fuel and regenerative braking would also allow the sport to maintain its reputation for being a high-technology sport that takes a leading role with respect to research.

[edit] Technical regulations

The desire to increase safety, improve the racing spectacle and reduce costs to help smaller teams mean that changes to the technical regulations are regularly proposed and implemented by the FIA. Unfortunately, there are often trade-offs to be made: for example reducing wings would make overtaking easier and potentially improve the racing but the wings provide a lot of space for sponsors to display their logos. Along these lines, one recent FIA proposal was to have a split rear wing.^[2]

[edit] Qualifying

In recent years there have been a number of changes to qualifying, often designed to create a more mixed-up grid to make the race more exciting. The traditional format of a one hour qualifying session with each driver allowed twelve laps was exciting but suffered from the fact that the track was often empty for the first half of the session. The 'one lap' format (whereby each driver had one lap on an empty track to set his qualifying time with no refueling allowed between qualifying and the race) was criticized by both teams and broadcasters for being boring. However, the bosses of smaller teams liked the guaranteed television exposure for their sponsors. A revised format for 2005 using aggregate times from two qualifying sessions was also unpopular with teams, fans and broadcasters due to fans refusing to give up so much of their time on the weekend. The system of two sessions was abandoned mid-season at the 2005 European Grand Prix.

The current 'knock-out' system, which was first used for the 2006 season, sees a partial return to the traditional format but with six cars eliminated after each of two initial sessions leaving 10 cars to fight for pole in a final 10-minute shootout (as of 2008).^[3] This system has generally been well received but there are a number of criticisms that may result in minor adjustments being made to the system.

• The system is overly complex, especially with the rules and tactics being essentially different for the final session.
• As lap times can not be carried forward from one session to another, the battle for pole occurs in the last minutes instead of being throughout the full session. It also makes it harder to see which drivers are at risk of elimination in the second session because the list shown by the television coverage typically consists of fast drivers that have yet to set a lap.

[edit] Politics

Often, politics takes precedent ahead of sport in Formula One. For many years teams have threatened to set up a breakaway series, known as Grand Prix World Championship (GPWC). In the immediate aftermath of the 2005 United States Grand Prix there appeared to be an almost irreconcilable split between teams and the FIA. Ferrari in particular appeared to be politically isolated, partly due to perceived close links with the FIA. There were many calls, particularly from Minardi boss Paul Stoddart, for FIA President Max Mosley to resign.

Ferrari became the first team to sign an extension of the Concorde Agreement to race in Formula One after 2007. Ferrari and the FIA had come up with proposed regulations for 2008 onwards. Meanwhile the other teams were threatening to set up GPWC in 2008. However, fledgling teams Red Bull Racing and Force India F1 (formerly Midland F1 who were still known as Jordan Grand Prix at the time) joined with Ferrari by signing the Concorde Agreement soon afterwards.

Drivers, in the form of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association also had a run-in with the FIA. There was said to have been a split between Michael Schumacher and the rest of the GPDA. A meeting about safety between drivers and Max Mosley was called off after comments that David Coulthard allegedly made.

More recently the sport is under threat from a breakaway series, proposed by seven of the remaining nine teams. Calling themselves FOTA, the unhappy teams are demanding standardised rules and the retirement of Max Mosely in exchange for staying on-board.^[4]

[edit] Future proposals

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[edit] FIA proposals

Max Mosley, the head of the FIA has come up with ideas for reducing the cost, danger and technicality of the sport. New regulations and rules proposed for the future include:

• Reductions in testing time
• Standard parts such as brake discs

Team bosses and FIA President Max Mosley met in Monaco on May 4, 2004 to discuss the proposed changes; the bosses unanimously approved the plan, effective in 2008.

[edit] Teams' proposals

On the weekend of the 2004 Brazilian Grand Prix, team bosses met to discuss the future of Formula One. Nine out of the ten team bosses (that is all of them, except that of Scuderia Ferrari) agreed to take part in an eighteenth and nineteenth race (i.e. the French Grand Prix and the British Grand Prix) if cost-cutting measures were introduced. Normally, the teams would need to be compensated in order to compete in more than seventeen races per season. The teams called for:

• A reduction in testing to just ten days per season
• The elimination of tyre testing
• No refueling

The teams' plea for a reduction in testing to just ten days per season is significant as Ferrari, who have an advantage over other teams due to their owning their own private test circuits, are very much opposed to reductions in testing.

[edit] Fans' proposals

During the 2005 Formula One season the FIA, in partnership with AMD and F1 Racing, launched a survey on the internet in a bid to find out what the fans wanted from Formula One. The response was so huge that many fans had trouble submitting their views because the website had "collapsed under the sheer weight of users" ^[5].

The results of the survey^[6] showed that 94% of fans would like to see more overtaking in Formula One, and only 15% thought that the sport "incorporate[d] the right balance of technology and driver skill."

To address the fans' concerns, the FIA adopted AMD as its "official technology partner" ^[7]. AMD will supply the FIA with a powerful computer that "could run a number of programs which would be equivalent to crews testing with two F1 cars" ^[8]. This will help the FIA to draw up new aerodynamic regulations for 2008, in the hope of producing closer racing.

A similar survey was carried out in 2008, with the backing of ING.

[edit] Breakaway series

On 19 June 2009, in opposition to proposed rule changes for the 2010 season, the Formula One Teams Association announced that it was ready to breakaway from Formula One and form an alternative championship. Later the plans were scrapped by FOTA after the FIA had a change of heart.^[9]

[edit] Circuit design

It has been suggested that more Grands Prix could be run on street circuits. In the week of the 2004 British Grand Prix, a Formula One demonstration was held on a short street circuit in central London. A proposed circuit for a London Grand Prix was published, with the starting grid on The Mall facing Buckingham Palace and a complex corner at Hyde Park Corner. Such a move would have two major effects. First, by including numerous famous landmarks it makes the courses more visually stimulating. Second, it would broaden the range of skills demanded of Formula One drivers, shaking the domination of drivers who have perfected the art of track driving.

Safety, of drivers and of historic landmarks on the circuits, remains a tricky issue. Therefore, circuits like those designed by Hermann Tilke, such as Shanghai International Circuit, remain in favour. Tilke's designs are said to encourage overtaking, due to their characteristic long straights followed by tight corners, however they have also been criticized for being too similar to other Tilke designs, and for conveying a lack of atmosphere on television. The brand new Istanbul Racing Circuit, designed by Tilke, proved popular amongst drivers and spectators alike, and has already been compared to the great circuits. The circuit's Turn 8 (an incredible long, fast corner which has four apexes) in particular has been compared to other great corners such as Eau Rouge.^[10]

[edit] Grands Prix

Bernie Ecclestone is keen to move Formula One into new markets to improve the sport's worldwide appeal. Possible venues for future grands prix include:

Africa Cairo, Egypt [11] Cape Town, South Africa [12] Americas San Luis, Argentina [13] Cancún, Mexico [14] Indianapolis, United States [15] New York, United States[citation needed] Asia Astana, Kazakhstan [16] Beirut, Lebanon [11] Doha, Qatar [17]

Europe Spielberg, Austria [18] Kavarna, Bulgaria [19] Prague, Czech Republic [20] Paris, France [21] Athens, Greece [22] Rome, Italy Gdansk, Poland [23] Kraków, Poland [24] Portimao, Portugal [25] Bucharest, Romania [26] St Petersburg, Russia [27]

In order to make room for such new races, either the number of races needs to be increased or existing races in Europe need to be removed. In the 2008 regulations the maximum number of races per year has been lifted from 17 to 20.^[28] The future for many traditional grands prix is still on the line, however. The first victim of this expansion of the calendar was the Austrian Grand Prix, last held in 2003. From 2007, the German is being held at alternating venues and the San Marino race has been lost. The threat remains with several teams having expressed their preference for a shorter calendar^[29]. In the recent past, the British, San Marino, French, Canadian, Hungarian and Belgian Grands Prix have been placed under threat as attractive circuits in lucrative markets vie for a place in the Formula One calendar. This problem is accentuated by the fact that constructors need to be compensated to race in more than seventeen grands prix in one season. On February 3, 2007, Bernie Ecclestone announced a race in Abu Dhabi from 2009 ^[30]. Although Indianapolis is listed above, it is a returning event but the circuit map had partially changed. Reportedly, the speedway is likely to return.^[31]

[edit] Contracted races

The following Grands Prix have been confirmed for the following dates.

Official Race Title	Grand Prix	Circuit	City / Location	Contracted
Turkish Grand Prix	Turkish GP	Istanbul Park	Istanbul	2009
Chinese Grand Prix	Chinese GP	Shanghai International Circuit	Shanghai	2009–2011
Italian Grand Prix	Italian GP	Monza	Monza	2009–2012
Belgian Grand Prix	Belgian GP	Spa-Francorchamps	Spa	2009–2012[32]
Singapore Grand Prix	Singapore GP	Marina Bay Street Circuit	Singapore City	2009–2012[33]
European Grand Prix	European GP	Valencia Street Circuit	Valencia	2009–2014[34]
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix	Abu Dhabi GP	Yas Island	Abu Dhabi	2009–2015[35]
Australian Grand Prix	Australian GP	Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit	Melbourne	2009–2015[36]
Brazilian Grand Prix	Brazilian GP	Autódromo José Carlos Pace	São Paulo	2009–2015[37]
Malaysian Grand Prix	Malaysian GP	Sepang International Circuit	Kuala Lumpur	2009–2015[38]
Bahrain Grand Prix	Bahrain GP	Bahrain International Circuit	Sakhir, Manama	2009–2016[39]
Hungarian Grand Prix	Hungarian GP	Hungaroring	Budapest	2009–2016[40]
Spanish Grand Prix	Spanish GP	Circuit de Catalunya	Barcelona	2009–2016[41]
British Grand Prix	British GP	Silverstone Circuit	Silverstone	2010–2027[42]
Korean Grand Prix	Korean GP	Korean International Circuit	South Cholla	2010–2021[43]
French Grand Prix	French GP	TBA	TBA	2011*[44]
Rome Grand Prix	Rome GP	TBA	TBA	2012-2018
Indian Grand Prix	Indian GP	Jaypee Group Circuit[45]	Greater Noida[46]	2011-2020[47]

Notes
*The contract for Magny-Cours to host the Grand Prix runs until 2010, but the FFSA (French motorsport federation) has a contract to host a Grand Prix somewhere in France until 2011.

Season	Contracted Races
2010	16
2011	15
2012	13
2013	11
2014	11
2015	10
2016	6
2017	3
2018	3
2019	3
2020	3
2021	2
2022–2027	1

[edit] Constructors

Prior to the 2009 season, the number of teams allowed on the F1 grid was 12. Despite the 12 team limit, F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone claimed that there would be 13 teams and 26 cars on the grid in 2010.^[48] Since that claim was made, a number of new regulations for the sport have been drawn up, notably increasing the grid size up to 26 cars from 13 teams.^[49] However, with the withdrawal at the end of the 2009 season of the BMW Sauber team, and its subsequent sale to Qadbak Investments,^[50] the FIA are now seeking the approval from the current 10 teams participating in the 2009 F1 season to increase the grid size of the 2010 from 26 to 28 cars.^[50] This has come about after a fourth new team (Team Lotus F1) was added to the entry list to fill the remaining two grid slots that had been vacated by the withdrawing BMW Sauber team.^[51]

[edit] New 2010 Entries

As a result of the new regulations, there will be at least four new constructors on the 2010 Formula 1 grid, with Qadbak Investments' former BMW Sauber entry potentially making up a fifth team. The four new teams are as follows:

[edit] Campos Meta Racing

[edit] Virgin Racing

[edit] USGPE

US Grand Prix Engineering or USGPE for short, is an American group entering Formula One in the 2010 season.^[52] The team had originally planned to enter under the group name USF1, but had to change due to the objection of Bernie Ecclestone, who claims to have the owning rights for the term F1.^[53] Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) president Max Mosley confirmed in early February 2009 that he had been approached by the group but that costs are currently too high for them to be competitive.^[54] The team is fronted by Haas CNC Racing technical director Ken Anderson and journalist Peter Windsor.^[55]

Autoblog has reported that the team will promote American technology under the banner "Made in America" and that the cars will be designed and built in Charlotte, North Carolina. A secondary European base will be in Azkoitia, Basque Country, sharing facilities with the Epsilon Euskadi racing team.^[56] Anderson would like the team's cars to be driven by two American drivers and are considering any American driver with the right credentials. The team was officially launched on February 24 on the Speed television channel.^[55] Windsor's team blog confirms that one of their initial investors are the advertising agency of Goodby, Silverstein & Partners.^[57]

[edit] Lotus F1 Racing

[edit] Post-2010 Entries

Possible (rumoured) future entrants include:

[edit] Prodrive

Prodrive, a motorsport group run by Dave Richards, was announced as having a place for the 2008 season on 28 April 2006 after having won against 10 other possible entries to gain a permit from the FIA to join the grid.

Despite having comprehensive plans setout the team has so far not joined the grid, mainly because of new rules disallowing customer cars.^[58][59]

Since then however, Richards joined with the other teams looking for access into the 2010 F1 season, and applied for an entry for the Prodrive team. For a long while up to the announcement, Prodrive were considered to be one of the favourites, mainly due to the preparatory work carried out prior to the 2008 season.^[60] The team would have operated under the Prodrive name in 2010 and 2011 and would have taken the name of Aston Martin from the 2012 season, the car company of which Richards is a major shareholder.^[61] However the team weren't included by the FIA in the 2010 grid list, and as a result, will have to wait at least another year before they are able to enter the F1 championship.

[edit] ART Grand Prix

ART Grand Prix, which is part owned by Nicholas Todt, son of former Ferrari Team principal Jean Todt was also linked with the Honda team and has been linked with a possible future move into F1.

[edit] Lola Cars

Since the FIA announced the budget cap of £40 million, Lola has shown a keen interest in returning to F1, for the first time since 1997.^[62] Along with the many other new teams, Lola lodged an entry for the 2010 season, but were overlooked in favour of Campos, Manor and USF1 for the available slots. Seemingly having a perennial presence on the outside of F1, and always looking for an opportunity to enter, this for sure isn't the last of the Lola entry.

[edit] Epsilon Euskadi

Another of the candidates on the list for the 2010 grid, its entry was rejected.

[edit] Brabham GP

Acquiring the rights to the Brabham name, and with the potential to use former team Super Aguri's factory at Leafield, this entry is led by a mysterious German businessman and was yet another of the potential candidates to make the 2010 grid.

[edit] Superfund

An Austrian based team, headed by former driver Alexander Wurz, it was one of the potential candidates for one of the slots on the 2010 grid, but its application was rejected. The team may yet appear on the grid in future if any of the existing teams are withdrawn from the championship.

[edit] Drivers

A list of drivers who are contracted to drive in F1 in the future.

Name	Team	Contracted until	Ref
Robert Kubica	Renault	2010	[63]
Lucas Di Grassi	Virgin Racing	2010
Felipe Massa	Ferrari	2010	[64]
Mark Webber	Red Bull Racing	2010	[65]
Adrian Sutil	Force India F1 Team	2010	[66]
Vitantonio Liuzzi	Force India F1 Team	2010	[67]
Sébastian Buemi	Scuderia Toro Rosso	2010	[68]
Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber	2010	[69]
Nico Rosberg	Mercedes GP	2010	[70]
Bruno Senna	Campos Meta	2011	[71]
Timo Glock	Virgin Racing	2011	[72]
Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing	2011	[73]
Jarno Trulli	Lotus F1 Racing	2012	[74]
Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus F1 Racing	2012	[74]
Michael Schumacher	Mercedes GP	2012	[75]
Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	2012	[64]
Jenson Button	McLaren	2012	[76]
Lewis Hamilton	McLaren	2012	[77]

[edit] See also

• List of Formula One Grands Prix for complete Formula One results and season reviews
• 2008 Formula One season
• 2009 Formula One season

[edit] References