Ten years may pass before Formula 1’s engine technology moves forward. Changes could be made after five years but only if all teams agree two years before changes would take effect.
At present, F1’s engines are 2.4 litre V8’s and are branded by such heady names as Ferrari, Honda, BMW, Toyota, and Mercedes, and Renault. Before the 2.4L V8, Formula 1 racers utilized 3.0L V10’s, turbocharged 1.5L four-cylinder powerplants, 1.5L V12’s, V6’s and a variety of other formats. The current V8’s can easily rev to 19,000 rpm, more than twice that of Ferrari’s own F430 road car’s screaming V8.
In other F1 news, McLaren is appealing the decision to leave BMW Sauber and Williams unpunished in light of fuel temperature irregularities. McLaren says they broke the rules, and the potential disqualification of Nico Rosberg, Robert Kubica, and Nick Heidfeld would have vaulted Lewis Hamilton to fourth place. Had he laid hold of the points available from a fourth place finish, he’d have won the driver’s championship instead of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.
“It would feel weird after Kimi did such a fantastic job in the last two races. He won and to have it taken away is a bit cruel and probably not good for the sport.”
2008’s F1 race schedule includes a night race in Singapore in late September, ends in Brazil just like it did this year, and forsakes American soil. Here’s the schedule in detail.
- March 16 – Melbourne, Australia
- March 23 – Sepang, Malaysia
- April 6 – Sakhir, Bahrain
- April 27 – Barcelona, Spain
- May 11 – Istanbul, Turkey
- May 25 – Monaco
- June 8 – Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Canada
- June 22 – Magny-Cours, France
- July 6 – Silverstone, Britain (see right)
- July 20 – Hockenheim, Germany
- August 3 – Hungaroring, Hungary
- August 24 – Valencia, Spain
- September 7 – Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium
- September 14 – Monza, Italy
- September 28 – Singapore
- October 12 – Fuji, Japan
- October 19 – Shanghai, China
- November 2 – Interlagos, Brazil
