Changes [edit] Driver changes

Changed teams

* Sebastian Vettel: Scuderia Toro Rosso → Red Bull Racing
* Anthony Davidson: Super Aguri / Honda Racing (test driver) → Brawn GP (test driver)

Entered F1

* Sébastien Buemi: Trust Team Arden (GP2) → Scuderia Toro Rosso

Exited F1

* David Coulthard: Red Bull Racing → consultant and test driver for Red Bull, as well as providing punditry for the BBC's television coverage alongside former Jordan Grand Prix team principal Eddie Jordan and anchor Jake Humphrey.
* Takuma Sato: Super Aguri → unknown

[edit] Mid-season changes

* Sébastien Bourdais was released by Toro Rosso following the 2009 German Grand Prix. He was replaced by World Series by Renault driver Jaime Alguersuari who also previously served as Red Bull and Toro Rosso's reserve driver.
* Felipe Massa was injured during qualifying for the Hungarian GP. Seven-time world champion and Ferrari advisor Michael Schumacher originally agreed to stand in while Massa recovers,[79] but he cancelled his return due to a neck injury.[80] Ferrari test driver Luca Badoer stood in for Massa,[49] although he was dropped after two races. On September 3, Ferrari announced that Force India's Giancarlo Fisichella would replace Badoer for the rest of the season (Ferrari will have used four drivers this season, and this is the limit as set by Article 19.1 of the Sporting Regulations[81]), having been released from his contract.[50] Fisichella's spot at Force India is likely to be taken by the team's test driver, Vitantonio Liuzzi.
* Nelson Piquet, Jr. parted company with Renault during the four-week summer break. He was replaced by Frenchman Romain Grosjean.[82]

[edit] Team changes

* Force India changed their engine supplier from Ferrari to Mercedes in a five-year deal.[69]
* Gerhard Berger sold his half-stake of Scuderia Toro Rosso to Red Bull, claiming that the new regulations would "leave no room for improvement for a small team like STR".[83]
* Honda F1 announced in December 2008 that they would withdraw their Formula One team from the 2009 World Championship due to the problems caused by the global financial breakdown and to focus on their core business activities.[84][85] It was confirmed on 5 March 2009 that the team would compete in the 2009 season as Brawn GP, with Mercedes engines, following a management buy-out, and would retain the services of both Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello as drivers.[86]

[edit] Calendar changes

* The debuting Abu Dhabi Grand Prix has been added to the race calendar, as part of Formula One's expansion in the Middle East.[87] The race will take place at the Hermann Tilke-designed Yas Marina Circuit, which is currently under construction on Yas Island. The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix will be the final round of the 2009 World Championship on 1 November, 2009.
* After being dropped in 2007 and replaced by the Fuji Speedway, the Suzuka Circuit will return to host the Japanese Grand Prix in 2009.
* On October 7, 2008, the FIA formalized the 2009 season calendar with the dropping of the Canadian Grand Prix (for apparent financial problems) and the rearrangement of the Turkish Grand Prix to June 7, 2009.[88] 2009 will be the first Formula One season since 1958 with no Grand Prix in North America.[89] The Canadian Grand Prix had been on the provisional schedule, before being dropped. However, it may be reinstated in the calendar in the event of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix not being ready in time.[90][91]
* On October 15, 2008, the organisers of the French Grand Prix announced via their official website that the race would no longer be part of the 2009 season, citing "economic problems".[92][93] This will be the second time that there has not been a French Grand Prix on the schedule since the start of the World Drivers' Championship in 1950. The only previous time was 1955.[94] The race had been on the "final" schedule for 2009, and Bernie Ecclestone had previously stated that it would stay on the calendar, as they had a contract until 2011.[95]
* On November 5, 2008, the FIA World Council shifted the Chinese Grand Prix to April and reshuffled the others to accommodate the loss of the French Grand Prix.[96]

[edit] Rule changes
Banned since 1998, slick tyres have returned in 2009.
A ban on aerodynamic appendages has resulted in the 2009 cars having smoother bodywork.
The front wing is lower and wider than in 2008.
The rear wing is higher and narrower.

On 22 December 2006, the FIA released technical regulations for the 2009 season.[97] These have been revised several times to accommodate the findings of the Overtaking Working Group (formed in response to concerns that wheel-to-wheel racing was becoming increasingly rare)[98] and the increasing need for cost-cutting in the sport in the wake of the economic crisis.[99] Some changes have been added later.

* Slick tyres will return for the first time since they were banned for the 1998 season. Bridgestone will continue to be the sole supplier of tyres, and drivers will still have to use both compounds of tyre during a race.[100] Soft tyres are differentiated by a green marking around the sides of the tyres, rather than a white marking in a groove as used in 2008.[101] Further, wet tyres were renamed as "intermediate" and extreme-weather tyres were renamed "wet".[102]
* The aerodynamic regulations have been radically altered for the 2009 season. Front wings will be lower and wider, while rear wings will be much higher and narrower. This makes the 2009 cars strikingly different in appearance from those of previous seasons, and several drivers have expressed concerns that the larger front wings could trigger more accidents; especially at the start of Grands Prix when the cars are racing close to each other. As well as the changes in the dimensions of the wings, bodywork will be much more regulated with many of the additional components seen in previous seasons effectively outlawed (including barge boards, winglets, turning vanes, chimneys, Viking horns and dumbo ears), the diffuser at the rear of the car has been moved back and upwards. Many other minor chassis components have also been standardised. The aim of the new aerodynamic regulations, as well as the reintroduction of slick tyres, is to decrease reliance on aerodynamic downforce and increase mechanical grip with the aim of making wheel-to-wheel racing easier.
* For the first time, cars will be allowed to use driver adjustable bodywork, in the form of adjustable flaps in the front wing. The flaps can be adjusted by up to six degrees, limited to only two adjustments per lap.
* Along with changes to bodywork and tyre size, the 2006 document included details of a Kinetic Energy Recovery System. This is a regenerative braking device designed to recover some of the vehicle's kinetic energy, which is normally dissipated as heat during braking. The recovered energy can be stored electrically, in a battery or supercapacitor, or mechanically, in a flywheel, for use as a source of additional accelerative power at the driver's discretion by way of a boost button on the steering wheel. The regulations limit the additional power to around 82 hp (61 kW) for six seconds a lap. The regulations do not make this compulsory, and due to concerns about both limited performance gains and safety implications many teams are believed to be unlikely to use the new KERS systems for at least the start of the 2009 season.[103] And in fact the number of cars using KERS has dwindled from seven cars for the first two races and a peak of eight cars at Bahrain to just four cars (the Ferraris and McLarens). Until Hamilton's win in Hungary, no car running KERS had won the race. BMW Sauber, one of the biggest investors in KERS, announced after qualifying in Britain that they would be abandoning their KERS programme for good.
* While it was reported in 2008 that the FIA were planning on introducing a budget cap to limit the amount of spending by Formula One teams,[104] the amount was not agreed upon and the budget cap idea was dropped. Instead, costs will be brought down by an almost total ban on in-season testing, a forced reduction in wind tunnel usage, the sharing of more data during race weekends, and an increased minimum engine lifespan: the engine will have to last for three races, instead of two in 2008. The gearbox will have to last for 4 races, and penalty of 5 places in the starting grid will be applied, should a driver change it during the weekend before the start of the race.
* Each driver will be limited to a maximum of 8 engines throughout the season, in addition to four engines for practice/testing purposes. To aid improvements in reliability, the engines will be detuned from 19,000 RPM to 18,000 RPM.[105]
* The rule stating that the pit lane is closed during a Safety Car period will be scrapped in 2009. The rule was introduced in 2007 to prevent drivers rushing back to the pits to refuel, possibly speeding through a danger zone, but software has been successfully developed to solve this problem.[106] The pit lane speed limit has also been increased from 50mph to 62mph(100kmh).
* The FIA initially declared that the driver with the most wins at the end of the season would be the winner of the 2009 Formula One World Championship, but dropped the decision due to opposition from teams and drivers.[107][108] Formula One Teams Association argued that FIA could not change the rules this close to the season's start without the full agreement of the teams.[3][109] Other proposals rejected by FIA were the introduction of a new points system with the scale 12-9-7-5-4-3-2-1 and to award medals for first, second and third place.[102]