
This resulted in cars being approximately 20cm longer than in the previous season.Īlbert Park Grand Prix Circuit, Melbourne As a result, cars required a larger fuel tank in order to hold enough fuel to last the full race.
In an attempt to cut costs, refuelling was banned during races from 2010 onwards. Replacing the older 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 system for the top eight drivers, from the 2010 season onwards, drivers would now score points for a top-ten finish. Ahead of the 2010 season, a new points system was introduced. Nick Heidfeld replaced Pedro de la Rosa from the Singapore Grand Prix onwards. Bruno Senna was replaced by Sakon Yamamoto at the British Grand Prix. Yamamoto was replaced by Christian Klien for rounds 15, 18 and 19. Karun Chandhok was replaced at HRT by Sakon Yamamoto from round 11 onwards. Michael Schumacher: retirement → Mercedes. Kazuki Nakajima: Williams → Formula Nippon. Kamui Kobayashi: Toyota (reserve) → Sauber. Giancarlo Fisichella: Ferrari (driver) → Ferrari (reserve/test). Pedro de la Rosa: McLaren (test) → Sauber. Several driver changes took place prior to the 2010 season:
This marked the first appearance of the Lotus name since 1994.
In addition to Mercedes, Lotus, Virgin and HRT (all supplied by Cosworth engines) joined the sport for the 2010 season.
The Toro Rosso team became a self-sustained team, having been supplied by Red Bull in the previous season.With the withdrawal of the Toyota engines, Williams switched to Cosworth engines.However, as Peter Sauber had not applied for an official change of name for the company, the team continued to operate under the name, BMW Sauber. Ownership of the BMW Sauber team was returned to Sauber following the repurchase of the team by Peter Sauber.
Ross Brawn was retained as Team Principal.
2009 World Champion constructor, Brawn, were bought out by Daimler AG, and rebranded as the new Mercedes Grand Prix team. The Toyota team withdrew from Formula One, along with Toyota as an engine supplier. ConstructorĬhanges from last season Team changes 3.3 The Bahrain Grand Prix was run on the extended Endurance Circuit layout of the Bahrain International Circuit.Īll engines are 2.4 litre V8s. 3 The inaugural Korean Grand Prix took place on 24th October, less than two weeks after the circuit gained its required license. 2.1.1 Races not on 2009 season calendar.