Those of you that saw the Monaco Grand Prix today would have seen Michael Schumacher’s gutsy move to overtake Fernando Alonso on the final corner of the final lap to take P6. That in itself would be fine under normal racing conditions, however Schumacher did this after the safety car had dived in.

The stewards (one of those being his old sparring partner, Damon Hill) deemed this to break the rules, despite the race being under normal conditions after the safety car had gone in, last lap or not… Schumacher received a 20 second penalty, leaving him in P12, but did he deserve it?

With just over 1 week until the first Grand Prix race of the 2010 season in Bahrain, we thought it’s be a nice idea to summarise what’s happened between Jenson Button’s 2009 Championship win, and now.

Teams

Shortly after the end of the 2009 season, Japanese team Toyota announced that they would no longer take part in Formula One due to financial reasons. This left drivers Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock without a drive. Previous to this, BMW Sauber had also announced that they were also pulling out of F1 due to BMW not wanting to take part, again leaving drivers Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica looking for jobs.

Sauber however managed to salvage the team, bringing it to F1 in 2010 – Although the team lost both drivers in the process, as well as the BMW Engine. Sauber are still registered as BMW Sauber, despite the lack of BMW – choosing to use a Ferrari engine instead.

Constructers champions Brawn GP were also bought out by German car manufacturer Mercedes, renaming the team Mercedes GP. Ross Brawn stays in his position as Team Principal.

4 new teams were billed to join the 2010 season, Virgin Racing, Campos (Now HRT Racing), US F1, and Lotus. US F1 recently announced that they are pulling out of the 2010 season, being unable to complete their development programme in time, and now focussing on a 2011 entry. It is understood that Stefan GP attempted to take the remaining slot on the F1 grid, however the FIA rejected their entry based on the time before the first race (some 2 weeks).

Drivers

The first major scalp in the driver juggle was Kimi Raikkonen. Mid 2009 season Ferrari announced that Renault driver Fernando Alonso would be joining the team, leaving Raikkonen without a 2009 race seat. Raikkonen was understood to only want a seat in one of two available cars, the Brawn or McLaren – however neither deal was made (likely due to the high price Raikkonen was commanding) and Raikkonen left F1 (albeit maybe temporarily).

The second biggest shock of the driver reshuffle was the move of 2009 championship winner Jenson Button over to McLaren. He joins the 2008 world champion Lewis Hamilton for an all British line-up. Widely seen as a risky move, time will tell if this change was a good one for Button.

The final big news was the announcement of Michael Schumacher to the Mercedes GP team. Schumacher returns out of retirement for 3 years to lead an all German lineup with Nico Rosberg as his partner. Schumacher originally planned an F1 return in 2009 when Felipe Massa pulled out after an accident, however was unable to due to suffering a neck injury after a motorbike accident.

Remaining driver positions can be seen in our Guide to 2010 driver lineups.

Important Rule Changes

• Refuelling has been banned during the race. Drivers will only be able to pitstop with problems and tyre changes.
• The top ten drivers to qualify for the race must start the race on the same set of tyres that quaified with.
• A new points system is now in place (see here)
• KERS, although not banned by the FIA, will not be used by FOTA teams in 2010.
• A Grand Prix can now take upto 26 cars.
• Wheel covers are banned on all cars.
• Front tyres have been slightly narrowed in comparison to rear tyres
• No testing rules have been slightly amended to allow any backup drivers 1 day of testing on a circuit not part of the 2010 season in order to prepare them for racing.

Circuit Changes

British GP track Donington pulled out of hosting the 2010 GP, and any future ones after they could not secure the funding for the endeavour. After weeks of speculation, and the chance of no British Grand Prix on the timetable, an agreement was placed between F1 Administration and Silverstone to host the British GP for the next 17 years.

The Canadian Grand Prix will return in 2010. Fuji Speedway was also due to host the 2010 Japanese GP, however track owners Toyota pulled out of this as well, leaving Suzuka to continue holding the race.

Finally, South Korea will host its first GP at the Korean International Circuit in the latter part of the season.

The teams, working with the FIA have agreed a new points system for the 2010 F1 season. The top 10 drivers will now receive points rather than the top 8, in an attempt to encourage teams to race for the win.

The new points system, starting with P1 will be as follows: 25, 18, 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2, 1.

In addition to this change, drivers will have to start with the same set of tyres that they qualified with, specifically, the set of tyres that they set their grid time with for their position.

Finally, the controversial double diffusers that ignited a court case at the beginning of the 2009 season will be banned from 2011 onwards. This will ultimately mean less downforce on the cars next year.

Chiefs of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix have announced that they will keep the ‘twilight’ day/night timing of the Grand Prix and the pit exit tunnel, despite both elements coming under fire from some quarters.

When quizzed on the twilight timing of the race and the tricky pit lane tunnel with no speed-limit, circuit boss Richard Cregan said:

“Nothing will change in that respect.”

The Yas Marina circuit won the 2009 race promoters award at the FIA gala and has been given the privilege of holding the last race of the 2010 season for the second consecutive year.

The FIA have today published the 2010 F1 entry list on their official website.

A few interesting points of note from this entry list are as follows:

• Although Brawn GP are listed , it also says;

This team has indicated its intention to change its team name to Mercedes Grand Prix prior to the start of the 2010 season

• Despite Jaime Alguersuari saying that he will drive for Toro Rosso next season, Sebastien Buemi is the only listed confirmed driver for the team.

• Although there is no mention of Toyota in the entry list, at the bottom of the page it says;

Toyota Motorsport GmbH remains formally bound by the Concorde Agreement to put forward a team for participation, though it has indicated that it will not be in a position to do so. An announcement will be made regarding this entry in due course.

• In the entry list Manor Grand Prix are actually called Virgin Racing.
• Sauber is not yet mentioned in the list as the team has not yet been allocated a grid spot.

The former Renault team boss, disgraced Flavio Briatore has today appeared in a French court for the start of a hearing against the FIA. Briatore wants his lifetime motorsport ban overturned and £900,000 in damages.

Briatore received his lifetime ban from motorsport due to his alleged involvement in the ‘crashgate‘ scandal, where Nelson Piquet Jr. was told to deliberately crash in order to let his teammate Fernando Alonso win at the Singapore Grand Prix 2008. Briatore still denies any involvement in what was dubbed by some as ‘The worst act of cheating in the history of sport’.

On the FIA’s decision to ban Briatore, he said that the FIA’s president at the time Max Mosley was;

“Blinded by an excessive desire for personal revenge”

- an argument stemming from Briatore’s disagreements previously with the FIA, where Briatore lead the group wanting to create a breakaway series following the rows over a budget cap.

Bernie Ecclestone has given Silverstone a final ultimatum to sign the contract for the 2010 British Grand Prix.

The outline of the ultimatum is that if by the time the FIA World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) next meets in Paris on 11 December to ratify the 2010 calendar, Silverstone don’t have the contract signed, Ecclestone will have no option but to scrap the race.

Ecclestone said:

“The World Council will meet and we will just pull it off — we will have to. We’ll have no other choice, if we don’t have a contract. We shouldn’t have anything on the calendar unless we have a contract in place.

“They are close and they know they are close. It’s not the terms and conditions so much, as whether the investors are prepared to bankroll them and take the risk.”

“Of course we want a British Grand Prix. I’ve been spending an awful lot of time trying to make sure it does happen, but there is no chance of an exceptional contract for Silverstone. Why should there be?”

Donington were due to hold the British Grand Prix 2010, before they failed to raise the funds required. Recently, the owners of Donington Park have gone into administration.

Flavio Briatore has this week accused the FIA of holding a “sham hearing” in the lead up to his subsequent lifetime ban from Formula 1 after the “crashgate” episode, where he stood accused of conspiring to intentionally crashing Nelson Piquet Jr’s Renault in order for team mate Fernando Alonso to win the Singapore Grand Prix. Briatore is also looking to receive at least €1m in damages as he takes the FIA to a french court to overturn the decision.

Briatore has a hearing in Paris scheduled to start on the 24th November, where he hopes to quite publicly dirty the name of the FIA, whilst additionally clearing his in order to return to the sport. Briatore has recently released the details of his case into the public domain where he stated,

“The FIA neglects to mention that, according to declarations by one of its own vice-presidents to the media, the world council’s decision was rather the outcome of secret negotiations on the eve of the sham hearing,”

One of the key elements to Briatore’s case is a quote from FIA vice-president Mohamed Ben Sulayem, where he said to the Abu Dhabi National newspaper,

“We are not here to hang teams, we did our negotiations before and everybody is happy with the result.”

The FIA recently responded stating that they condemned the “selective leaking” of evidence from Briatore’s case by his lawyers, however Briatore was quick to deny such allegations stating that he has nothing to hide.

In a recent blog post on their official website, Ferrari appear to blame the exit of top car manufacturing teams such as Honda, BMW and recently Toyota on the sport’s leaders, rather than the often blamed global economic downturn. Ferrari said,

“The reality is that this gradual defection from the F1 fold has more to do with a war waged against the major car manufacturers by those who managed Formula 1 over the past few years, than the result of any economic crisis.”

Perhaps pointing to the recently departed Max Mosely, and the FIA as the crux of the problem, Ferrari are clearly a little upset at the teams seemingly dropping like flies from the sport. They go on to say that the new teams for 2010 are no replacement for the likes of Honda or BMW, saying they wonder how many will be left at the beginning of the 2010 season, and at the end.

Ferrari are clearly keen to uncover the culprits in this apparent (in their eyes) systematic approach to removing car manufacturing teams from the F1 grid.

“In Christie’s work of fiction, the guilty party was only uncovered when all the other characters died, one after the other. Do we want to wait for this to happen or do we want to pen a different ending to the book on Formula 1?”

An interesting viewpoint without a doubt, we can only wonder why it’s taken them nearly 12 months since the Honda walkout to voice their strong opinions on the matter. Perhaps some action around these words could and should have been done before BMW, Toyota, Bridgestone and even maybe Renault leave the sport. Maybe with Jean Todt at the helm of the FIA, Ferrari now feel a little more comfortable in voicing their opinions?

What is clear is that they definitely do not rate the incoming teams, and appear to question why the Formula One bosses are working hard to get new teams on board, yet let existing long term teams flounder and die.

The Formula One Team Association (FOTA) has issued a press release congratulating newly elected FIA President Jean Todt to his new role. Ex colleague at Ferrari and now FOTA Chairman Luca di Montezemolo said:

“I would like to send my best wishes to Jean Todt in his new role, as I have always appreciated his ability, dedication and commitment. I am sure that, under his guidance, the Federation will be rejuvenated and will restore a climate open to dialogue and constructive collaboration with the teams and FOTA, thus ensuring stability of the regulations and the whole environment.”

“Formula One is about to embark on a new phase: all the stakeholders must work together with an eye to the future, to increase the credibility and interest generated by this sport, tackling the technical and environmental challenges that await it, while keeping unchanged, those characteristics that have made it one of the most popular disciplines on the world stage.”

John Howett, Vice Chairman and Toyota Team Principal added,

“I extend my best wishes to Jean Todt as he takes on this demanding but crucial role. I am convinced that Jean Todt’s presidency represents an opportunity for all Formula One’s stakeholders to unite under his leadership and work together to strengthen our sport. FOTA is looking forward to supporting him to broaden the appeal of our sport among fans and sponsors while respecting Formula One’s great heritage to which he has contributed enormously.”

Todt beat rival challenger Ari Vatenen to the FIA position earlier today, beating him by 135 votes to 49. This also ends the 16 year rule of Max Mosley, who’s final years have been dogged by scandal, in and outside of Formula 1.