Sauber F1

BMW, the German manufacturer, are pulling out of Formula One at the end of this season.

There have been reams and reams of both print and online journalism reproducing the statement that the team released saying they are going, but relatively few trying to postulate why.

Of course, there are good reasons for that. Firstly, it is probably only known to handful of insiders in the team's Munich and Hinwil bases, and secondly, because the reasons are likely as complex and interlinked as the mechanical parts on their cars.

However, the fact remains that there are a number of known facts that could have pushed the team’s owners to have to make the decision to pull out of F1.

Let’s start by looking at the statement, in its unadulterated, unreported form, as found on the team’s official website.

There is a look of jargon and double-speak there, about how “premium will increasingly be defined in terms of sustainability and environmental capability” and how in line with “strategy number ONE” (upper case original) they are constantly “reviewing all projects and initiatives to check them for future viability and sustainability.”

Exactly the kind of rhetoric you expect from a carmaker in an age where climate change is a buzzword and trees have feelings too.

It also explains how the decision was only made on Tuesday. Believe none of this; it may only have been formally agreed and announced on Tuesday, but the option hasn’t been far from Munich minds since the start of the year.

However, there is also mention of the first concrete fact: their abysmal 2009 season, which team principal Dr. Mario Theissen describes as a “hiccup.”

The results from their two drivers, Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld, have been, well, mediocre to say the least, especially compared to last season, when Kubica had a mathematical shot at the title until the closing races.

But if the recent lack of performance is the only, or even main, reason for the withdrawal, then I have vastly overestimated the intelligence of those responsible for the decision.

Yes, the team has only one victory, Kubica Canada 2008, since BMW joined with the Swiss Sauber outfit for the 2006 season. But if you consider that it basically created a new team, a win in what was a third season, in today’s F1 of million-euro budgets and computers to make NASA blush, is not bad going.

Toyota would gladly bite your hand off if you offered them a victory after only three seasons, given they’ve been trying seven seasons now without a single mark in the win column.

And yes, this season has been a “hiccup,” but then until recent weekends it has also been a “hiccup” for McLaren and Ferrari. Yet there’s been no inkling of a threat of them withdrawing from F1 (aside from falling out with Max Mosley and Bernie Ecclestone).

The big difference between McLaren and Ferrari and BMW is that the first two have been more forthcoming and successful with their car upgrades than the latter, although before the decision it was reported that BMW would see new packages at both Valencia and Singapore. Whether these now materialise is up for debate.

That lack of updates, or at least successful updates, leads nicely into the next known fact.

BMW’s F1 team are not as rich as you might think.

Cast your minds back to the offseason—an offseason in which BMW lost major sponsor Credit Suisse due to the banking crisis mess. The team has so far been unable to publicly replace them as a sponsor; hence the cars have had BMW marketing—Connected Driver, Efficient Dynamics, or celebrating the Mini’s birthday—adorning their engine covers this season.

Exactly how much of a financial hole this put the team into is only known to the accountants, but it is likely to be a significant portion of the sponsorship the team had budgeted with and, perhaps, already written "mental cheques" with. Suddenly having to rethink the plans without the money may have led to certain cu backs.

Perhaps development was one of them, and with the cars' lack of raw pace and the constant developments of other early strugglers, it has left BMW languishing at the back of the grid.

Of course, a possible lack of sponsorship is not the only financial problem facing carmakers—we all know that. The threatened repercussions of the recession had been seen in BMW’s sporting arm even before F1 landed in Melbourne.

Again, cast your minds back to the offseason—this time to the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) where, under various names, BMW runs five works three-series cars.

Over the winter there was the threat that the maker might withdraw from that series, with the decision so close that many of the drivers started making other plans, with the three-time world champion test-driving the ALMS BMW as a potential career move.

BMW never pulled out of the WTCC, and in the statement confirming their F1 exit re-affirmed their commitment to the WTCC, but clearly money worries were in Munich long before the F1.09 chassis turned out to be a dog.

Again, the company’s WTCC stance leads to another known fact—that BMW are very keen on their sporting campaigns leading to improvements in the road cars that are on sale to the public.

BMW were one of the strongest supporters of the Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) to be adopted by F1. They were one of the first teams to begin testing with the system on tracks and were one of the four teams who turned up with KERS-enabled cars (car, to be exact) for the F1 opener in Australia, although they have since been one of the two teams to turn their back on the technology.

Since the season started, the FOTA teams have drawn up an agreement that KERS will not be used from 2010 on. It is not a rule yet but may be included in the Concorde Agreement teams are apparently days away from signing (it was probably this signing that lad to BMW making the decision now).

KERS and the hybrid technology it related to is one of the most obvious things that manufacturers can take their knowledge of in F1 and put in their road cars. Perhaps losing this link, both to the road cars and environmental concerns, was another nail in the metaphorical coffin of the F1 team.

This is further supported by the fact that BMW is withdrawing from F1.

They are not withdrawing from the WTCC or the ALMS.

Yes, you can say F1 costs more, and it undoubtedly does, but on a purely marketing level of "let’s get our name out there," F1 far outranks the other series with its wider audience and better TV coverage.

However, with these series the links between road and race car is far clearer. Aside from the aerodynamic fakery and fancy tuning parts, you can go to your BMW dealer and buy a three-series like is raced in the WTCC and ALMS in various forms.

The closer-to-production nature of these series makes it far easier (and cheaper) to take any knowledge or part you develop for racing and put it on the next generation of road car, and as a carmaker how many models you can shift from the showroom is your main marker of performance, not wins on a race track.

Last season BMW Sauber driver Robert Kubica was in the mix for the F1 World Championship right up until the last few races of the campaign.

The title ultimately went to Lewis Hamilton, after a last minute win at the Brazilian Grand Prix, which broke local hero Felipe Massa's heart.

One of the reasons why Kubica was not given the opportunity to chase the 2008 World Championship was because the BMW Motorsport hierarchy decided to concentrate the efforts of the team on the construction of the BMW F1 09.

A decision that, with hindsight, was an extremely bad one.

So far this season BMW have struggled at the back of the grid constantly.

Although all Formula 1’s heavy weights have struggled with the raft of technical regulations brought in at the beginning of the season, Ferrari and McLaren have continued to try to upgrade their cars to give their drivers the best chance of doing well.

BMW seem to have written off 2009 just as they wrote off 2008.

Today, at qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix, both Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld failed to make the second session and will start tomorrow's race from 16th and 19th place on the grid.

BMW are a classic example of thinking too far forward. They planned too far ahead and have paid the price for not considering every factor.

This season will have been a big lesson for them.

Because of their decision to concentrate on 2009 in 2008, they failed to win anything and now with 2009 pretty much a write off as well they will soon be planning for 2010.

BMW spent too much time on technology that did not live up to the hype made, namely KERS.

In a time of global recession, which has hit car manufacturers badly, the likes of BMW will have been left counting the pennies and dreaming of what might have been.

When you look at the covers and headlines of the magazines from the season-break time, almost all of them included BMW as 2009 championship contender.

With everyone’s attention on previous F1 leaders on the back of the grid, is everyone thinking about the Swiss team right now?

Last year, Robert Kubica was surrounded by journalists from all over the world, right now they just passing him to catch Sebastian Vettel.

Nobody cares much about BMW right now. And nobody will, unless they do something to close the gap to the leaders.

After buying Sauber and becoming independent constructor the team made plans for the future.

In 2006, they wanted to have points. They had.

In 2007, they wanted podiums. They had.

In 2008, the wanted their first win. Mission accomplished.

In 2009, they wanted the championships. After four races, they have four points. Neither of the drivers made it into the Q3 in China and Bahrain.

What now? After Kubica’s win in Canada, the team stopped developing the current car and focused on the 2009 contender. It was a little bit controversial, but from the team’s previous experience, everyone knew it was the right move.

The team wanted to be faster than McLaren and Ferrari. Until China GP, they were. Considering that both of the main rivals barely scored points, it doesn’t sound impressive.

BMW's lack of form is probably caused by its lack of upgrades in the opening fly-away races as the team failed to introduce any new parts while their rivals continued to improve their cars.

Everything is going to change this weekend in Spain, as BMW are set to unveil major aerodynamic upgrades for the F1.09.

But what if it won’t change? The thing is that in Spain everybody is going to have updates. Brawns already have a huge advantage in standings. Red Bull is still there and Toyota is hungry for a first win.

The beautiful and awful thing at the same time about Barcelona is that we will know the results on Saturday.

The best way to find Spanish GP interesting is simply to go there. Sunbathing, opening eye every time Ferrari passes you by and then celebrating Kimi’s win with a group of Finnish fans (and alcohol).

Like I did last year.

And although I don’t care for BMW as much as for the other teams, it would be nice for them to pick up some points. After all, Kubica is my countryman.

As Team Brawn extend their lead at the top of the championship, it is Ferrari and BMW who are falling further back, with the latter of the two having a horrendous weekend in the desert.

Ferrari finally got a few points, but the prancing horse remains more of a limping donkey.

This weekend's surprise knockout in session one turned out to be Mark Webber, coming off the back of his second place finish in China. Of course it was not his fault, as Adrian Sutil decided to weave his Force India across the track to ruin Mark's lap. A three place grid penalty didn't seem to be a severe enough penalty for this misdemeanour that probably cost Webber about 15 places on the grid.

BMW Sauber were once again in the midfield and looking no closer to getting back to the front. This is the team that halted development of the 2008 car to work on this year's BMW, and looking at how the 2008 championship played out, they are probably regretting this decision hugely.

Nelson Piquet Jr. reached the dizzying heights of session two for the first time this year, and promptly qualified 15th. Ferrari reached the dizzying heights of session three with both cars, their best Saturday in a few weeks.

As the race began, both BMW Sauber and Felipe Massa quickly crashed, ruining their races as all returned to the pits for new noses. On their way back to the pits, the BMW's created a queue of cars that resulted in numerous overtaking manoeuvres, which shuffled up the back of the grid.

As the cars spread out a little, Mark Webber moved his way up the order, and Heikki Kovalainen found himself falling a long way back. Giancarlo Fisichella made his way up to 12th, with a good start by both Force India's.

As the race settled down, the BMW Sauber's found themselves lying right at the back; their early race damage and heavy fuel strategy compromised any chance of a fightback up the grid.

Felipe Massa encountered reliability problems, as his KERS system started acting up, meaning that any chance he had for points were now completely gone. However, Kimi Raikkonen was running in the points, so it's not all bad news at Ferrari.

Kazuki Nakajima pulls into the pits towards the end of the race as Bahrain's only retirement of the day.

Massa forced past Fisichella with a bit of wheel-banging, the winner of the 2007 and 2008 Bahrain GP's now up to an exciting 14th. Fisichella then decided to hold up Jenson Button, who was trying to lap the Italian.

Unbelievably, it takes the two final corners and the pit straight before Button is able to get past. With Sutil getting in the way of Webber in qualifying, Force India was a bit unpopular.

Despite numerous overtaking moves, Mark Webber only made it as far as 11th by the finish, one place behind Nelson Piquet Jr, who completed a race without crashing. Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen both got solid points with under-performing cars, with their teammates both outside of the points.

BMW finish 18th and 19th out of 19, marking the teams worst ever grand prix. However, Nick Heidfeld breaks a record by finishing 25 consecutive grands prix, so its not all bad.

So, Ferrari finally gained a handful of points, BMW has gone substantially backwards, and Mclaren looked like they were getting somewhere. Unfortunately for Mclaren, tomorrow could change their entire season, as the FIA investigates the fiasco that was the Australian GP.

What punishment will they get?

I think they could be banned for a couple of races, along with a hefty fine. After all, they are still on probation from the 2007 scandal, and the $100,000,000 fine that came with it.

The Spanish GP in two weeks should be a major turning point in the season, with several teams bringing new parts. Will Ferrari and BMW be able to improve, or will Brawn continue to run away with it?

Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld are both amazing racing talents. Kubica was the outstanding star of last season.

Had it not been for his team’s insistence on beginning work on improving the teams’ prospects for the following season the pole could easily have provided an unexpected challenge to the finale of the title fight between Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton.

But yet the sporting world accepted his teams frustrating lack of pace for the prospect of a future force to be reckoned with.

Sadly however as today’s Chinese Grand Prix showed the extra work insisted upon has come up with absolutely nothing worthy of note.

Kubica obviously has to take some of the responsibility for the failings. His qualifying performance was poor. For a driver who massively outperformed his car last season, he portrayed a sub standard figure of his former self, leaving his race credentials aiming for a point or two at best.

Even worse was the reality that was to fall upon the BMW duo during the race itself. Their race pace was so far removed from the spectacular that neither managed to produce a display that demanded a response from us watching spectators.

And so now we have to witness the demoralising scenes of woe from a team of two optimistic drivers promised so much when their team gave up on their 2008 car. Their expectations of a brighter future to come, at this precise moment are seemingly in tatters.

Alongside the likes of Ferrari and Mclaren they find themselves playing an excruciatingly painful game of catch up as the likes of Brawn GP and Red Bull Racing take charge.

What both Heidfeld and Kubica also find themselves in danger of this season is the gradual decline in praise lavished upon them if their car continues to yield nothing more than midfield results at best.

Even though both drivers can and have produced fine displays of out performance of their cars there is only so much they can do when their chassis beneath them gives them peanuts.

BMW will hopefully see this as an alarming wake up call. The idea of such a team wasting the monstrous talents they have acquired is disheartening to say the least.

Robert Kubica is a definitive championship contender and is not supposed to become a lost memory in the history books of Formula One’s prestigious talents.

The Australian Grand Prix usually offers the first glimpse of what we can expect to see for the rest of the year, although last years race didn't provide any clues.

With a large number of DNFs only 6 cars were classified as finishing due to a first corner accident and a range of component failures.

Winning the winter testing championship is pointless if you can't back it up with pole positions and race wins, nevertheless there a number of teams who seem to have taken a step forward over the winter.

With considerable changes since 2008 there is every chance for a race of high attrition, so expect some unusual faces on the podium.

A quick look at Bluesq.com's odds for the opening round of the championship show that Button and Raikkonen are favourites to win the race at 4/1, with their respective team mates Barrichello and Massa on 6/1, as is Alonso.

The bookies obviously basing their figures on winter testing times, as the BMW combination of Kubica and Heidfeld have odds of 8/1 and 20/1 respectively.

However, as you would imagine you can never rule out Lewis Hamilton and McLaren, who according to Bernie Ecclestone have been sandbagging during the winter and will be running at the front during the race.

Thinking Point

The outcome of the race could well depend on which teams run the new KERS systems during the race. Currently only Renault, McLaren and Ferrari have announced that they are going to use their systems, whilst BMW Sauber have yet to decide.

At this early stage in the championship these hybrid devices will be at their most unreliable but they do offer a competitive advantage nevertheless.

There has been a lot of discussion about the newly instated rule of most wins equals’ title winner.

There is not a huge opposition to it, although the news that Felipe Massa would have been rightful champion last season obviously has not gone down too well with Hamilton fanatics.

Indeed, had this rule have come into place two years ago, the rightful champion and driver of 2007, Kimi Raikonnen, would have won the title by two wins instead of by just the one point he edged out in bizarre fashion at the season's climax.

His car's reliability issues had nearly cost him the title in the first place, but karma in the end appeared to prevail.

Yes, the new rule will definitely encourage overtaking. Hamilton, Massa, Alonso and Raikonnen will look to fight like they have never fought before for precious wins, which could ultimately tally up to title glory.

In this respect, straight away the defence of this rule coming into place has a great deal of validity.

A driver who shows his dogged determination to win races will be aptly rewarded, as opposed to the driver who consistently but deliberately edges onto the second or third steps of the podium in a race they could have won, but instead settled for the reward of points that would keep the title race open.

There is however, one downside that I see to this rule, and the 2008 season shows a brilliant case in point. Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton, points wise, were the statistical top two drivers of the season last year, memorably culminating in the last-corner dramatics that were Hamilton’s title glory and Massa’s heartbreak.

But were their seasons the top two performances of the season as a whole? The simple answer is no. Lewis Hamilton was solid at points, but arguably a weaker version of his debut season self.

Felipe Massa also was stronger than he had ever been, much to the shock and amazement of his harsh critics, but still on occasions showed a lack of maturity and consistency in his driving.

On the other hand, two drivers shone throughout the season, outperforming their cars and showing immense speed and great tenacity as if there was no tomorrow.

Sebastien Vettel became the youngest winner in Formula 1 history, demolishing Kovalainen in Italy and elevating himself into superstar status.

Race after race, he tore up the form book for this Toro Rosso team and showed what an average car could do in the hands of professional talent.

Yet it was Robert Kubica’s performance which was by any stretch of the imagination, outstanding. Here was a driver who had survived a spectacular crash in the previous season, a crash which ten years previous would have left him six feet under, and left a driver who as a result appeared to come back ten times stronger with improved pace and driver quality.

The BMW was not a championship winning car; it could not compete with Ferrari and McLaren. 

Still, it showed a great level of consistency. Kubica himself outshone teammate Nick Heidfeld throughout to earn multiple podiums, which oddly left him at one point leading the drivers’ standings without a win to his name.

That win, albeit in extremely lucky circumstances, came to him midway through the season and gifted him the reward that he so truly deserved,.

If not for his team's insistence on producing an improved 2009 car, could have encouraged him to fight for more victories in the penultimate rounds of the season which would force him to become a surprise third candidate for title glory.

But if the same thing happened in the 2009 season, this new rule suggests that Robert Kubica would become irrelevant as a title contender, unless his team can produce a car worthy of greater pace.

So therefore it has to be said that this rule, which is good for some, is brutally punishing for the likes of Kubica and Vettel.

Both are among the best drivers in a field of celebrated talents, but if previous form continues into the new season, it would lose them any hope of a title challenge for the "drivers’" title.

Ultimately, it would be the teams' lack of pace which would cost him the individual title as opposed to their own talents.

The ultimate question here really is, should the drivers’ title come down to which car performs head and shoulders above the rest, or should it come down to who can actually get the most out of their car and outperform it to the greatest extent...and ultimately who would actually be the most deserving champion?

The introduction of KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems) into Formula 1 has turned into rather controversial issue. One hand this brainchild of Max Mosley is here to show to the outside world how green and road relevant F1 can be. On the other hand this for F1 new technology has been a massive drain on financial resources of the teams at the time when FIA , FOTA and even Bernie Ecclestone talk about need to drastically reduce the cost of Formula One.

The decision to bring KERS into the F1 picture however came at the free spending times, before the current crisis hit. The teams have already spent millions on development and because of that, as Mario Theissen says, dumping KERS now perhaps would not be too wise:

"We agreed that the cost of KERS was quite significant, but the real thing is that when we discussed it a month ago the money had been spent already on development, so it would be the worst thing to spend money on something you don’t use."

There are calls to delay the introduction of KERS to 2010. Different people have different arguments. Some argue with the cost, some with safety concerns. I however think that the main reason for those who now oppose the 2009 introuction of KERS is much more simple—difficulties and set backs with the KERS development. I do not think that Luca di Montezemolo or Flavio Briatore would be now so vocal opponents of KERS should they have a perfect working KERS fitted in their brand new cars. So let’s look where all the teams currently stand and what are their KERS plans for 2009:

McLaren

McLaren are believed to be advancing well with their KERS development and are even expected to supply KERS to Force India as a part of their technical partnership deal. However, according to McLaren test driver Gary Paffet (to Forumula1.net at the Autosport International Show), the team hasn’t decided yet whether they will run with or without KERS this year:

“Yes, the rumours are that Ferrari are struggling with their KERS device, but there is no guarantee that everyone will be running the system anyway. Our system is coming on relatively well and we are happy with the development, but I can’t say that we will definitely run it. It all depends on the trade off between the weight and how much time it is going to give you. There is only a limited amount of lap time it can give you with the available power.”

Ferrari

Ferrari are one of the most vocal opponents of KERS. They abandoned their original project with Magneti-Marelli and rumours are they are still struggling with the development. Several prominent Ferrari figures slammed KERS as expensive and irrelevant to road cars. Kimi Raikkonen however had something positive to say after running the new F60 with KERS in Mugello this week:

“Both days the use of KERS had positive results. The system works well like every other new component. You have more power but for such a short time that I think it won’t change things much. Maybe it’s an interesting invention, but I don’t think it’s decisive.”

There are no words from the team yet whether they plan to run KERS from the beginning of the season or not.

BMW Sauber

BMW Sauber have been the biggest supporters of KERS. BMW also opposed the proposals of the other teams to postpone KERS introduction to 2010. But being supporter of KERS does not mean being ready—Mario Theissen:

“KERS is still the most challenging and exciting part of the new package to me. Looking back to when we started more than a year ago on KERS, that time was pure research. Then we went through a stage I would call pre-development. Now we are in the development stage. We are still not ready to race, but if I look at what progress we have made in last 12 months, it’s amazing. We have learned so much. We are still pushing hard. We are not ready yet. I am sure we will be ready at some point, I don’t know whether we will be ready for Melbourne. That is the character of innovation, you take risks and you don’t know when they will pay off. I’m pretty sure it will pay off at some point in the season and that it might become the crucial factor.”

Renault

Renault bosses are one of the fiercest critics of the dangers and cost of KERS. Flavio Briatore even calls introduction of KERS in F1 “a terrible mistake”. Renault’s technical director Bob Bell voiced the safety concerns:

“It’s unknown territory for us. We are not used to seeing cars with high voltage stickers. I think there will be some accidents this year. It’s inevitable. And you’ll probably see some mechanics get nasty shocks. Let’s hope it’s no more than that. The same could be said of marshals. The sport has done a very good job of trying to minimise the risk, to mechanics, technicians and trackside people, but there is still a risk. It’s several hundred volts and the potential to be tens of amps, so it’s pretty lethal. And it’s DC (direct current), so if you hold it you cannot let go.”

Flavio Briatore slammed the cost of KERS:

“I think it is a terrible mistake. In the end Renault, Mercedes-Benz and Ferrari supply engines to other teams, and we are not making any money - it is costing us but we are doing it for the good of F1. We have the big reduction in the costs of engines, but in another way we have opened the door on something else. We don’t know how much it is going to cost us in the end with development, and we don’t know if it is dangerous or not - it looks like it is not 100 percent in control. And does it bring any good to us? What it brings to us is only cost, that is sure.”

According to Bob Bell the teams is not yet sure if they will run with KERS in Australia.

Toyota

According to Toyota’s senior general manager of chassis Pascal Vasselon their “KERS system is running on the test bench, and it is working reasonably well”. Toyota has however decided not to run KERS from the beginning of 2009 season as they are not convinced KERS would be an advantage. Pascal Vasselon to Autosport:

“We took this decision being convinced that it would be an advantage. It’s not because we are late with the programme that we are not going to run it at the beginning of the season. We took into account the performance of the whole package. When you have KERS on the car you have almost no freedom left in terms of centre of gravity. It’s not only the boost you get for a couple of seconds, you have to take into account the effect on the whole car. That’s why we felt we needed some additional time to know whether there will be a net benefit.”

Williams

Williams are the only team developing a flywheel based KERS. The team believes KERS may bring them some benefits later on in the season. They may however opt not to use KERS from the beginning of the season and focus on the new 2009 aero package instead. Williams technical director Sam Michael:

“It’s very difficult to sign off KERS in time for Melbourne with all the other things we are trying to do. We are trying to make sure that the cooling and gearbox and everything else on the car is working first, and we are also concentrating on making sure our mechanical and aerodynamic package is optimised before we try and get KERS on the car. Because if you get something wrong on the aerodynamics or you get something wrong mechanical, you can lose seconds. Whereas KERS, even when you have everything 100% reliable is worth two and a half or three tenths. It’s important and that two and a half or three tenths will be important during the season, but to start with it will be swamped by the aero and getting the setup of the car right around the slicks and making sure all the mechanicals don’t break.”

Force India, Toro Rosso and Red Bull are not developing their own KERS and will rely on progress of their engine partners Mercedes, Ferrari and Renault. The same would probably apply to the team formerly known as Honda, should they find a buyer.

At the moment it does not look like there will be too many cars fitted with KERS on the grid in Melbourne …

BMW have launched their 2009 contender in the form of the F1.09 at the Valencia track this morning. Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld were both in attendance to reveal the car.

Mario Theissen said at the launch "In 2009, we are looking to maintain our first-class reliability record, while at the same time enhancing our performance levels so that we can be at the front of the pack on a consistent basis.

"We are aware that we are aiming extremely high. This is the final step in our development, and that's generally the hardest one to take."

The F1.09 is fully fitted with KERS, which will later be tested today.

Front View:

Side View

Testing Photos:

(more photos coming)

Other 2009 launches:

McLaren MP4-24

Ferrari F60

Toyota TF109

Renault R29

Williams FW31

With the teams revealing their 2009 Formula One cars we also have chance to see some of the 2009 F1 drivers helmets. Here they come. I will be adding more (or better) pictures as they become available.

Hamilton, Kovalainen, Glock, Trulli, and Piquet keep their helmets more less same as in 2008. Alonso added some red colour to his lid (to match the new colours of the Renault car probably).

Robert Kubica keeps his 2008 colours while Nick Heidfeld has changed his dominant helmet colour from 2008 blue to 2009 green after getting inspired by similar snowboard helmet.

2009 F1 Drivers Helmets