2007 technical and regulations changes

Nothing ever stands still in F1. It's a restless entity always progressing, adapting or re-inventing. For 2007 there is no major regulation change - but the detail is very different.

The single most significant change is that there is no longer competition between more than one tyre brand. Bridgestone will supply the same specification of rubber to every team. It means we will no longer see the sudden swings in competitiveness from one team to another according to the track or the weather. But how a car uses its tyres will still be a critical part of being competitive.

The supply tyre has been deliberately made quite sensitive, particularly at the rear. Most teams have therefore tried to get weight off the rear and onto the front in order to retain tyre good performance for longer into each race stint. The variation in performance patterns this will bring from car to car should mix things up. One car may be quick in qualifying because it works its tyres hard and gets them up to temperature quickly, but this performance might then drop off quickly in the race. The picture is further complicated by the fact that Bridgestone will provide two compounds for each race weekend and every driver must use both compounds at some stage during the race. It should juggle things up nicely.

Teams cannot rely on simply advancing their engines to make up for any shortfall either. For the first time this year, the engine specification of each team is frozen and must remain the same as when the motor was homologated last year. Like the tyre supply rule, this has been introduced in an attempt to control costs. The engines are also rev-limited for the first time, albeit at 19,000rpm. They must still last for two race meetings, on pain of a 10-place grid penalty, as before. If the change is made after qualifying, the driver must start from the back.

However, any failure during the Friday practice sessions no longer carries a penalty and teams may use different engines for Friday to that used for qualifying/race on Saturday and Sunday respectively. The two Friday practices have been extended from 60 to 90 minutes each. In part, this is to offset greater restrictions in the number of testing days. By voluntary agreement between the teams this has been capped at 30 days, thereby restricting costs and placing more emphasis on race weekend action - to the benefit of the spectators.

Third cars are no longer allowed on Fridays, but teams can use a third driver in one of their cars then. This could give the opportunity for promising new talents to be tried out by the teams.

Other changes to the technical regulations include tougher crash test requirements that have cost the cars some aerodynamic performance. In terms of the sporting regs, a significant change is that cars can no longer pit immediately the safety car is scrambled. The field must be lined up in its correct order behind the safety car before the pit lane is declared open. This is to prevent backmarkers spoiling the dice between the leaders upon the resumption of racing. It will mean that any safety car will potentially rejuvenate the lead battle - as well as positions further down the field.