The Formula One rule book is a work in progress. Additions are made every year, either in the name of safety, or to cut costs, or to be more eco-friendly. The biggest technical change for 2008 is the lack of driver aids, but there are a few other rules that will keep the teams’ engineers on their toes.

Standard ECU

For the first time ever, there will be a standard Electronic Control Unit (ECU) in Formula One cars this year. Designed and built by McLaren Electronics, which is a sister company of the McLaren Mercedes racing team, and Microsoft, the unit is about half as powerful as the outgoing ECUs. Its main function is to eliminate traction control and engine braking control.

“Driving the car without traction control in the dry isn’t that different to last year,” Lewis Hamilton said. “It’s definitely more fun but you quickly get used to it. Lap times aren’t that different but mistakes are punished more. Running wide when we had traction control might have cost only 0.2sec, whereas now the same mistake costs 0.5sec.”

Throughout the winter, the teams’ IT boffins have tried in vain to find ways of circumventing the standard ECU, but it is sealed and tamper-proof, with the result that each driver has been left in sole charge of his engine’s 760bhp.

The smoother drivers, such as Kimi Raikkonen, of Ferrari, Hamilton and Jenson Button, of Honda, are relishing the lack of traction control. Their styles are particularly effective towards the end of long runs, when the rear tyres are past their best and grip levels are waning.

Those drivers who previously relied heavily on the electronics, such as Felipe Massa, Raikkonen’s team-mate at Ferrari, and Rubens Barrichello, who partners Button at Honda, are struggling.

Everyone, however, slides around in the wet, which is good news for the fans and the television viewing figures. At the recent wet Barcelona test there were dramatic power slides on view at the exit of corners and the cars were very loose under braking without the engine-braking control.

The electronics used to open the throttle automatically when they sensed the rear wheels locking under braking. The power surge turned the wheels, helping to maximise a car’s braking capabilities, but that is no longer possible with the standard ECU.

“In the wet,” David Coulthard, of Red Bull, said, “it’s very hard to control the car. The back end is more unstable this year anyway, but in the wet the car just wants to swap ends.”

Gearboxes

Each gearbox has to last four races in 2008, which is a considerable shift from only one race in 2007. A failure ahead of time brings with it a five-place grid penalty.

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