Analysis: All Change for the New F1 Season

Picture this: The Australian Formula One Grand Prix with a Minardi on the front row.

Meanwhile Ferrari's five-times World Champion Michael Schumacher, slowest in the previous day's qualifying after being caught in a torrential downpour at a circuit he knows by heart, is left bringing up the rear.

Alongside is the Williams of Colombian rival and regular pole-getter Juan Pablo Montoya, who skidded off in the same session.

By the end of the race, the German has powered back up through the field to take his customary podium place but British newcomer Justin Wilson has held on to finish eighth and celebrate a debut in the points.

Impossible? No, even if it would require a bizarre and unlikely sequence of circumstances for something of this magnitude to happen at Albert Park when the season starts in Melbourne on March 9.

Under new Grand Prix regulations, designed to cut costs and liven up the sport after a year of Ferrari domination and wilting global television audiences, a single lap qualifying format has replaced the old one-hour session.

The change could throw up some hefty surprises.

Qualifying will now be held over two days with each driver allocated one flying lap in an hour-long session on Friday and Saturday. The Friday hour starts in Championship order, with Schumacher first out, and the times determine the starting order for Saturday, with the slowest first.

If a driver messes up his lap, too bad. If the rain starts after the first car has gone out on a dry track on Saturday, steadily intensifying until the final driver heads out in a deluge, again it is tough luck.

Fuel Rule

To complicate the calculations, not all the cars will necessarily be running on the same fuel load in qualifying, since refuelling has been banned between the Saturday afternoon session and the Sunday start.

Some of the regular tail-enders may go as light as possible to secure a moment of glory on the grid, even if it means having to pit as soon as possible, while others may decide on a longer-running strategy. The reaction to the fuel rule has been mixed.

"It makes the races more interesting for the public, because it messes up the whole grid a bit," said Renault technical director Mike Gascoyne. "We have got to get the strategy right, so we do not only depend on a driver for his one-shot qualifying."

Jaguar managing director David Pitchforth observed that "if Minardi want a second-row start slot, they can go out in qualifying with fumes in the car, then make a pitstop on the opening lap.

"It's a whole new ballgame."

McLaren's David Coulthard spoke of a new era opening up, but suspected that the public might have difficulty in following the strategy until the end of the race. Purists say that Ayrton Senna's record of 65 pole positions can never be challenged now by Schumacher, who has 50, because the nature of pole has changed.

From being a simple flat-out blast, with the fastest driver securing prime position and bragging rights, pole position has become subject to strategy. The points structure has also changed to 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1, rewarding the top eight finishers instead of the leading six as before and cutting the gap between first and second place from four to two points.

That should mean that teams such as Minardi, who scored no points between Marc Gene's sixth place in 1999 and Australian Mark Webber's fifth in Melbourne last year, have more of a chance of avoiding year-long blank sheets.

Minardi's drivers will also have more track time at the circuits than Schumacher in his Ferrari, with an extra two hours on Friday mornings for those teams that have agreed to restrict their official testing during the season.

Technical Restrictions

During the race, teams will be unable to tweak their car's settings using sophisticated two-way telemetry systems - as McLaren did to help David Coulthard win in Monaco last year.

They will also be limited in what they can do from the end of qualifying until the morning of the race, with cars effectively impounded until 0800 local time on Sunday.

During this time, teams will be allowed only to repair bona fide accident damage and carry out a range of minor tasks such as replacing the main electrical battery. The race must be started with the same wheels and tyres used in qualifying, although damaged ones can be replaced by others which have been used for more laps.

The sight of Michael Schumacher roaring out for a late adjustment lap, pitting and commandeering the spare car is also to become a distant memory. The spare can now be used only if a car fails before the race or is damaged within the first two laps by an accident that forces a re-start. In that case, the driver in the spare will start from the pitlane.

Electronic 'driver aids' such as launch control, allowing a quick start, and traction control will be banned from the British Grand Prix in July.