2009

To facilitate overtaking, guaranteeing more spectacular races, the Federation had planned new technical regulations for the 2009 season: a proper revolution in F1, with completely differently looking single-seaters. The front wing was much wider than in the past, the rear wing much narrower and higher, the diffusor further back, the bodies were without air-outlets and the aerodynamic devices reduced. The drivers had the possibility to move the flaps’ angles from the cockpit and then there was the introduction of the KERS – the kinetic energy recovery system – and the slicks were back, too. Each driver could use up to eight engines throughout the season, tests during the year were no longer allowed. These were the main modifications regarding the regulations for a season where the balance of power on the track was newly arranged: with the F60 – whose name celebrated the 60th participation of the Scuderia in the F1 Championship – the Scuderia couldn’t offer opposition to teams like Red Bull and Brawn GP, while the latter was built on the remains of Honda with Ross Brawn in the driver’s seat. It was another season with polemics, when several teams benefitted from grey areas in the regulations, using technical solutions at the limit. FOTA had threatened to organise an alternative series as an answer to a FIA proposal of capping the budget. This year Ferrari gained just one success, with Kimi Raikkonen in Spa-Francorchamps, while a terrible accident during the qualifying at the Hungarian GP put an end to Felipe Massa’s season, replaced by Luca Badoer and then Giancarlo Fisichella. The 2009 Championship, won by Jenson Button and Brawn GP, ended for the Scuderia with a disappointing fourth place in the Constructors’ Championship.