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When Sebastien Buemi straps the Toro Rosso on in Melbourne this year not only will he be the youngest driver on the grid, he will also be the first Swiss driver to race in Formula One for 14 years.

While some countries like Finland seem to breed F1 champions no Swiss driver has scored points in the last 25 years. What’s wrong with Switzerland? After all, Lewis Hamilton lives there.

Switzerland does in fact have a history of Grand Prix racing, starting in 1934 at the old Bremgarten circuit. Originally built as a motorcycle racing track in 1931, the circuit itself had no true straight just a collection of high-speed corners sweeping through the forests north of Berne. The tree-lined roads and changes in road surface made for a dangerous circuit and the first race held at Bremgarten tragically claimed the life of driver Hugh Hamilton when his Maserati broke a wheel and he lost control at nearly 100mph. Bremgarten remained the home of the Swiss Grand Prix until 1954 when Juan Manuel Fangio won in a Mercedes-Benz W196.

Then the following year the 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans saw the death of 84 spectators when Pierre Levegh’s Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR was involved in an accident and flew into the crowd, killing the driver as well. Over 100 more people were injured and the terrible accident prompted many countries to ban motor racing including France, Germany and Switzerland. But while motor racing was reintroduced in the other countries, it was only 50 years later in 2007 that the Swiss Parliament voted to lift the ban on racing. Incredibly, while 97 were in favor of lifting the ban there were still 77 opposed. However this legislation was subsequently not ratified by the Council of States so there is little chance that motor racing will return to Switzerland in the near future.

All this means that while Finland has produced more Formula One world champions per capita than anywhere else and France has a great heritage of racing, Swiss drivers have rather a hard time of it.

Sebastien Buemi explains:

Switzerland is not a good place from which to embark on a racing career. There is no help for the drivers, no infrastructure, no circuits, no support programme. In France for example, there are several well established schools and even so, it’s clear they struggle to get drivers into F1, so imagine what it’s like in a country that has nothing. It’s entirely down to the individual, but maybe my arrival in F1 will change that.

I hope so. Alonso’s huge popularity gave Spain a second race in Valencia. Maybe if young Buemi can ignite the same kind of support in Switzerland we might see a Swiss Grand Prix in the future too.

The F2009 is actually the F60. Ferrari were the first F1 team to unveil their 2009 car today, and the name commemorates the Scuderia’s 60 years in Formula One. Pictures of the new car were released on the Ferrari website before Felipe Massa took the car to the track at Mugello.

As expected the new Ferrari looks quite different from last year’s car with a high, narrow rear wing and a much wider front wing. The central section of the front wing is clear of many of the aerodynamic surfaces we saw last year with only stubby side elements. In fact the whole bodywork is much smoother with none of the slotted “gills” or little flick-ups that attached themselves like barnacles to the bodies of the cars over the season.

The Ferrari website describes the “possibility of using a Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS)” and goes on to say it is “centrally mounted on the engine under the rear part of the chassis”. Ferrari have admitted to being behind schedule in their KERS development so it remains to be seen whether this “possibility” is made use of in the opening races of the season. You can see in this picture of the new F60 steering wheel there is a dial marked KERS and a big red button labeled “K” that would seem to be the button for triggering the KERS boost.

Ferrari usually manages to build good looking cars and while the 2009 regulations have created quite a different looking car from last year I think it still looks pretty good. The smooth lines of the bodywork are nice and I’m sure we’ll get used to the new look. Now if they would only ban those wheel covers so we can see some glowing discs again!

It seems Pedro de la Rosa still has ambitions for an F1 race seat. The 37-year-old Spanish driver has been in Formula One since starting as a test driver with Jordan in 1998.  Since then he has driven for Arrows and Jaguar before joining McLaren as test driver in 2003. He is one of the few drivers to have scored points in his debut Grand Prix and he finished in second place behind Jenson Button at the eventful 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix.

Speaking at the Autosport International show in Birmingham, de la Rosa said:

At the moment, at my age, if I put one step in a different category I know that my chances of getting back into a full race drive are very slim.

So I have to be with the best, I have to test with the best, and become a more intelligent and complete test driver.

So that’s my only chance to come back, but for sure I will come back.

Is it too late for Pedro? He is the same age as David Coulthard who retired at the end of last season and with Lewis Hamilton taking Alonso’s record to become the youngest ever Formula One Champion at age 23 F1 seems to be more and more a young man’s game. Sebastien Vettel is only 21 (and looks about 15). Even Rubens Barrichello is younger than de la Rosa.

I admire Pedro for keeping the dream alive. I think he is a good driver and has put in some impressive performances when he has had to step into the McLaren on race day.  I would like to see him with a permanent race seat. But that being said I can’t really see it happening. There comes a time when if you haven’t made it by now you’re not going to.

It could be that de la Rosa is just better as a test driver than as a race driver and this is where Ron Dennis thinks he can be of most value to the team. I think we need to look at the test driver role not as simply a stepping stone to a full race seat but as a vital team role that takes as much, if somewhat different, skill as a race driver. Just like the safety car driver is an important role that has its own unique demands.

Unfortunately safety car drivers and test drivers don’t get the same salary as race drivers and if in his heart Pedro still wants a race seat then he is probably right that if he sets foot outside of Formula One he will never get back in again.

FIA president Max Mosley has written a letter to FOTA chairman Luca di Montezemolo outlining his thoughts on the “really big changes” required in 2010 to ensure the survival of the Formula One Championship. The full letter is here and it makes for some interesting reading.

A standard gearbox and underbody is proposed for 2010 and the FIA will shortly produce a list of chassis parts and systems which will be the only elements of the chassis which can be developed. All remaining chassis elements will be either standard or frozen.

Mosley also wants to discuss the use of KERS and how it can be developed without incurring significant costs for the teams. KERS has been a controversial addition to the 2009 regulations with teams spending huge sums developing the devices and it is not known how many teams will acutally use the device when the championship begins in two months. There are two different kinds of KERS devices: one that stores electrical energy using batteries and capacitors and one that uses a flywheel to store kinetic energy. Most teams have opted to develop an electrical device but in the letter Mosley suggests that these will be banned in future:

We are increasingly of the view that the use of chemical storage (in particular batteries) should be prohibited in Formula One owing to the unsuitability of the batteries currently available. There are at least two mechanical or electro-mechanical systems under development for Formula One and there may be others as well as hydraulic systems. Formula One would benefit from systems with more capacity than the present 400KJ, 60KW, (for example maxima of: 2MJ stored, 150KW in, 100KW out) but still very small and very light, as is essential in Formula One. These figures are theoretically possible with mechanical devices, but not feasible in the foreseeable future using batteries and/or capacitors. Such non-chemical devices, if successfully developed, would have a very significant impact on road transport and other applications.

Mosley also mentions such radical ideas as reversed grids, allocating leading grid places by lot, giving the World Championship to the driver with most wins and so on but rightly points out that once a faster car gets in front it tends to drive away.

In the letter he also says:

there is no rational argument to support the continued use in Formula One of expensive technologies which have no relevance outside the sport and are unknown (and thus of no interest) to the general public.

I think he makes some good points. Standardising components that most people don’t care about (or may not even be aware of) makes sense but F1 should be the pinacle of motor racing. It should showcase not just the best drivers but also the best engineers and technology. While reducing the engine rev limt to 17,000 should provide cost savings and I doubt we will notice the drop in revs care must be taken when messing with such a vital part of a racing car as the engine. I don’t care if all the cars have the same underbody and I don’t really mind if they all use the same gearbox but there still needs to be some scope for the engineers to make a difference. It’s not just the drivers that are competing on Sunday it’s also the pit crew, the team managers and the car designers.

Ross Brawn, Team Principal of Honda, has said he is “really optimistic” about the chances of the team finding a buyer by the end of the month. Speaking to Italian paper La Gazzetta dello Sport, he also said Honda have approached Ferrari about the possibility of them supplying engines for the team in 2009.

But while other teams are preparing to launch their 2009 cars in the coming weeks, Honda faces “at least six weeks of work” integrating whatever engine they decide to go with. Honda have already said they will not supply the team with engines in 2009. So once again, even if Honda survive to race in 2009, it will be another “transitional” season for the team. Brawn said:

We are studying a package of evolutions for 2010, when we aim to step up the ladder. Next year will remain for us a transitional one.

How many years does the loyal Jenson Button have to wait to get a car deserving of his talents? It was clear early last year that Honda’s RA108 just wasn’t fast enough but with Ross Brawn signing on and the 2009 reboot of the rules I was hoping Honda (and Jenson in particular) could be competetive in 2009. Unfortunately it seems like Button’s career will be put on hold for another year. Bernie Ecclestone thinks he should hold out for a seat in a top team:

He should be in any of the top teams. I’d rather see him wait to get a seat in one of those than race in an uncompetitive car.

He might not have a choice.