Changes... increase in safety

The next stop of the F1 2005 championship is the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday in Barcelona. The home fans will be watching this race with more attention as young prodigy Fernando Alonso is leading the championship list after a stunning start for Renault.

Over 60,000 of the estimated 117,000 attending the race will be sporting Alonso's colours. Pressure will be high but not as much as a fortnight ago when Alonso held back world champion Michael Schumacher with the skill of a seasoned driver.

Since 1950, Spain has hosted the event 34 times. The circuit of Catalunya, on the hill of Montmelo, will be in its 15th event.

The circuit plays host to most of the testing effected by all F1 teams. Technicians are furnished with an abundance of data that can be juggled to suit the day's event even though some surprises could be in store after organisers decided to re-surface most of the track.

Formula 1 started the 2005 season with new regulations for the engines, tyres and aerodynamics.

Engine: this season, each engine has to last for two successive grand prix weekends, twice as long as last year. The FIA has calculated that fewer engines means lower costs, and that lower performance ultimately also means an increase in safety.

Tyres: this season, every driver has fewer tyres at his disposal. They must all now complete both the Saturday and Sunday qualifying sessions, as well as the race, on one and the same set of tyres. During the race, a tyre can only be changed if it is damaged.

Aerodynamics: as the cornering speeds kept increasing in recent years, the FIA wanted to decrease the cars' downforce by 25 per cent through restrictions in the aerodynamics, such as a higher position for the front wing.

This has only been achieved on paper - on the track, the cars are already driving just as fast as before.

Actually, the international federation ought to take far more radical action, because the cars really have amazingly strong downforce.

The new aerodynamics regulations are also the reason why the field has closed together and so the races have become more interesting.

"The restrictions have made the field slightly more even because eventually all the aerodynamic engineers reach the same limit, and after that there's simply nothing they can do," one informed source said.

The new regulations have helped to reduce the costs, which is good for the teams. In parallel, they have slowed the escalation of the cars' performance, which has improved safety.

paddockclub@timesofmalta.com