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After months of speculation, rumour and no comment an official announcement has finally been made that the Team Formerly Known As Honda has been sold to Ross Brawn and will be named Brawn GP.  The name is still subject to approval by the FIA but at least there is no ‘F1’ in the name so Bernie shouldn’t object.

As suspected, the team will use Mercedes-Benz engines and will retain Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello as drivers.  Bruno Senna, the nephew of three-time World Champion Ayrton Senna, had been rumoured to be signed by the team but with so little time before the first race in Melbourne Ross Brawn clearly wanted two experienced drivers:

I am delighted that Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello will form our race driver line-up for the 2009 season.  The vast experience and knowledge that both drivers bring to our team will prove invaluable as we aim to get up to speed in the shortest possible time to be ready for the first race of the season in Melbourne on 29 March.  In what will be their fourth season together, their experience with our team in Brackley, our systems and our engineers, will prove a real asset.

Brawn GP are scheduled to conduct a shakedown of the new car on Friday before testing  in Barcelona between 9-12 March and in Jerez from 15-17 March.

The Formula One Teams’ Association (FOTA) today outlined its roadmap for Formula One at a press conference in Geneva at which senior management figures from all 10 current Formula One teams shared the stage together.

The proposals are aimed at increasing the stability, sustainability, substance and show of Formula One, and have all been developed as a result of rigorous interrogation of a FOTA global audience survey carried out in 17 countries earlier this year.

The proposals cover both 2009 and 2010 and so include some already announced such as testing reductions and fixed price engines and gearboxes.

One of the key findings of the audience survey was that Formula One wasn’t fundamentally broken.  This is good news.  Both Ron Dennis and Sir Frank Williams have warned that any moves toward dumbing down Formula One or turning it into a spec series would risk driving away fans, drivers and engineers so the following statement from FOTA is encouraging:

There is no evidence to suggest that grand prix formats need ‘tricking up’ via, for
example, handicapping, sprint races, reversed grids or one-on-one pursuit races.  Formula One audiences appreciate the traditional gladiatorial, high-tech nature of the sport and would not respond favourably to a perceived ‘dumbing down’ of the current format.

A new points scoring system has been proposed to make winning grands prix count for more than it did last season.  Points would still be limited to the top 8 places but those drivers scoring a podium would earn more than they do currently.  This seems like a good compromise between Bernie Ecclestone’s radical medals scheme and the current points system.

Surprisingly, FOTA are suggesting further reductions in testing for 2010 (four four-day single-car pre-season tests plus one single-car pre-season shakedown.)  If anything I would have expected an increase in testing as between hailstorms in Europe and sandstorms in the Middle East the teams haven’t managed to get a lot of miles in this year.  They must not think it’s such a problem.

Felipe Massa must like the look of the suggestion to reduce the race distances to 250km or a maximum of one hour 40 minutes.  Earlier this week he told the Roman paper La Repubblica:

Nothing happens in the last 15 laps.

I’m not so sure.  Plenty happened in the last 15 laps in Brazil.  Perhaps if the race had finished 15 laps earlier then Glock could have held his position on dry tyres and Massa would be World Champion…

FOTA also recognises that F1’s media potential is not being fully exploited, in particular via the internet.  FIA president Max Mosley suggested earlier this year that Formula One was neglecting the power of the internet but the sport’s commercial rights holder, Bernie Ecclestone, is known for his reluctance to embrace the online world.

The key proposals are below:

Technical
2009:

• More than 100% increase in mileage per engine (eight engines per driver per season)
• Reduction in wind tunnel and CFD (computational fluid dynamics) usage
• Engine available at €8 million per team per season

2010:

• Engine available at €5 million per team per season
• Gearbox available at €1.5 million per team per season
• Standardised KERS (put out to tender, with a target price of €1-2 million per team per season)
• Target a further 50% reduction of the 2009 aerodynamic development spend
• Specified number of chassis, bodywork and aerodynamic development iterations (homologations) during the season
• Prohibition of a wide range of exotic, metallic and composite materials
• Standardised telemetry and radio systems

Sporting
2009:

• Testing reduction (50%)
• New points-scoring system (12-9-7-5-4-3-2-1), to give greater differentiation/reward to grand prix winners
• Race starting fuel loads, tyre specifications and refuelling data to be made public

2010:

• Commitment to recommend new qualifying format
• Radical new points-scoring opportunities (eg, one constructors’ championship point to be awarded for the fastest race pit stop)
• Further testing reductions (four four-day single-car pre-season tests plus one single-car pre-season shakedown)
• Reduction of grand prix duration (250km or a maximum of one hour 40 minutes) pending the approval of the commercial rights holder

Commercial
2009:

• Increased data provision for media
• Explore means by which the presentation of Formula One action can be more informatively and dynamically presented, common to other sports such as tennis and cricket, to dramatically improve engagement with the public
• Nominated senior team spokesman available for TV during grand prix
• Commitment to enhance consumer experience via team and FOTA websites
• Mandatory driver autograph sessions during grand prix weekends

2010:

• Commitment to enhance consumer experience via TV coverage

After the rumour, hype and, finally, launch of new American Formula One team, USF1, Bernie Ecclestone has suddenly remembered that he thinks he owns the trademark on ‘F1’ and has forced the team to change their name.  USF1 will now be known as US Grand Prix Engineering or USGPE.

This is despite the fact that in 2007 the UK Trademark Registry refused to grant Formula One Licensing exclusive use of the term ‘F1’ as it considered it a generic term.  In fact the only official trademark they own is  ‘FIA Formula One World Championship’.

This is crazy.  Aparently the fact that Bernie owned the trademark to ‘F1’ must have slipped his mind while he was helping the team get off the ground.  He also doesn’t seem to mind other teams using ‘F1’ in their names; Williams Grand Prix Engineering goes under the trading name of WilliamsF1.

But Bernie didn’t stop there.  Not content with going after teams that use ‘F1’ he also wants to own anything that might look like ‘F1’.  It seems if you squint really hard the Force India ‘FI’ logo sort of looks a bit like ‘F1’.  And of course Bernie owns that so it has to change.

Neither of these teams could afford any kind of legal challenge so they have little choice but to cave in to Ecclestone’s demands but this kind of thing does more harm to the F1 brand than good.

I’m not sure which is worse, Brawn Racing or USGPE…

It looks like Rubens Barichello, the most experienced driver in Formula One, will be back with the soon to be renamed Honda F1 team in 2009.

There had been speculation that Bruno Senna, nephew of the great Ayrton Senna, would replace Barrichello this year.  Now it seems that with only a few weeks to go until the first Grand Prix in Melbourne, and the team yet to turn a wheel on the new car in testing, Ross Brawn is keen to take advantage of Barrichello’s vast F1 experience.

Last year’s Turkish Grand Prix saw Barrichello make his 257th Grand Prix start beating the previous record number of starts held by Riccardo Patrese and 2009 will be the Brazillian’s 16th year in Formula One.

As with every post about Honda recently, I have to add the disclaimer that nothing has been officially announced, but I’m glad it looks like Rubens will be on the grid this year.  While it would be nice to see the Senna name in Formula One again, it makes sense to have an experienced pair of hands for what will be a difficult year for the team.  Rubens clearly thinks he still has what it takes to race in Formula One, saying at the end of last year:

I have unfinished business in F1.  I am sure I can finish higher up, if not winning the championship. I really believe that is what I deserve.

While winning the Championship is unlikely for Rubens this year, it would be a shame if he didn’t return to Formula One for at least another year.  As the most experienced F1 driver ever he deserves a proper send off when he finally does retire.

The new JPH01 Formula Two car was unveiled at Brands Hatch on Monday.  The car was rolled out in front of Sir Frank Williams and Patrick Head before British Touring Car driver Steven Kane took it out on the track.

Designed by Williams, the car is powered by a 1.8 litre turbo Audi engine with 400bhp on standard boost and 450bhp on overboost.

While GP2 has been the main feeder series for Formula One in recent years, for much of the history of Formula One, Formula Two has been the stepping stone to the top series.

Formula Two first started in 1948 as a cheaper complement to the expensive Formula One Grand Prix cars.  In fact, in 1952 and 1953, Formula One was so expensive and there were so few entrants that all the Championship races in those years were run with Formula Two cars.

Now, after an absence of 25 years, the FIA are hoping the return of Formula Two will provide an affordable route for young drivers to progress to Formula One without having to find the enormous sums required for GP2.

The top three finishers in the 2009 Formula Two Championship will be eligible for FIA Superlicences and the Champion will win a test with the Williams Formula One team.

The driver lineup includes ex-F1 driver Martin Brundle’s son, Alex and World Champion John Surtees’s son, Henry as well as Natacha Gachnang who is the cousin of Toro Rosso driver Sébastien Buemi.

The F2 Championship starts at Spain’s Circuit de Valencia in May, partnering the World Touring Cars.

More pictures of the launch below: