In October 1991, Nigel Mansell was on the brink of losing the World Championship having had a comfortable lead and certain victory thrown away by another pit lane drama in the Portugese Grand Prix at Estoril. He lost one of his wheels after what appeared to be a smooth and tidy pitstop and was later given the black flag. The next stop after Portugal was Spain, but this time the venue was not Jerez. The F1 circus was about to visit a brand new purpose built circuit near Barcelona, the Circuit de Catalunya.

The introduction of Standard Electronic Control Units (SECUs) to prevent drivers using electronic aids marks one of the most radical regulation changes to date. Christopher Hayes assesses the impact of the common unit and looks at the reaction in the paddock.

Money doesn’t buy you happiness, nor does it buy you success as Honda have been quick to realise this season.

The arrival of former Ferrari Technical Director Ross Brawn to the struggling Brackley based team, along with a series of other high profile appointments, illustrates Honda’s new found commitment to long term capacity building as well as continuing to throw money at research and development. But patience will also be required if Honda are to return to winning ways.

Spyker lodged an official complaint about the cars of the Super Aguri Team, after they jumped from back markers last season, to solid midfielders in Australia earlier today. However the Stewards at Albert Park dismissed the protest saying it was a commercial issue, not the responsibilty of the FIA.

Traction control is slightly different on a Formula 1 car to that of an ordinary road car. A road car’s traction control is there to give stability under everyday use. In a Formula 1 car, traction control is there to help deliver the maximum amount of power to the road at all times. However the underlying principles behind traction control remain the same for both Formula 1 and road cars.

In 2006, the FIA introduced a new rule that the 3 litre V10 engines were out and the 2.4 litre V8 engines were in.

Formula 1 has become a much safer sport. Cars now sport a variety of safety features which allows modern racing drivers to walk away from horrific crashes which they would not have survived years earlier. The last time a driver died on the track was 1994.

Understeer and Oversteer

The forces exerted on the wheels by the weight of the vehicle are not distributed evenly. This means the slip angle for each tyre is different. The ratio between the slip angles on each tyre determine the way the car corners. If the ratio of front to rear slip angles is greater than 1:1 (ie the front tyres do not have as much grip as the rears), the car will tend to understeer. A ratio of less than 1:1 (ie the front tyres have more grip than the rears) will produce oversteer.

At Monaco, an F1 driver will make a gear change every 2 seconds on average.

Because of the huge forces exerted on an F1 car, it can be incredibly difficult to turn the wheel without any assistance. Hydraulics are used to help ease this. Hydraulics are also used in other elements of the car such as the fuel-filler cap and the gearshift. Hydraulics are used over electronic systems because they are lighter.

A modern F1 car has more than 1km of cables in it.