2014 F1 SEASON CALENDAR CONFIRMED

The 2014 Formula 1 season was confirmed by the FIA World Motorsport Council on Wednesday. As expected Korea, Mexico and the planned Grand Prix of America in New Jersey have dropped off the calendar. While Korea's withdrawal is understood to be because of financial difficulties, Mexico will probably make its long awaited return in 2015 as they have to make renovations to the old track.

Brazil will no longer host the finale as originally planned and will instead take place on November 9, when the Abu Dhabi race was supposed to take place.

March 16 - Australia GP, Melbourne
March 30 - Malaysia GP, Sepang
April 6 - Bahrain GP, Sakhir
April 20 - China GP, Shanghai
May 11 - Spain GP, Barcelona
May 25 - Monaco GP, Monaco
June 8 - Canada GP, Montreal
June 22 - Austria GP, Red Bull Ring
July 6 - Britain GP, Silverstone
July 20 - Germany GP, Hockenheim
July 27 - Hungary GP, Hungaroring
August 24 - Belgium GP, Spa-Francorchamps
September 7 - Italy GP, Monza
September 21 - Singapore GP, Marina Bay
October 5- Japan GP, Suzuka
October 12 - Russia, Sochi
November 2 - USA, Circuit of the Americas
November 9 - Brazil, Interlagos
November 23 - Abu Dhabi, Yas Marina

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F1 2014 - NEW RULES EXPLAINED

Now that the season is over, we are all looking forward to the next one as we do every year. Next year will be quite different though with many major rule changes including a huge change to the engines from 2.4 litre V8 to 1.6 litre V6 turbos. The turbo era is back from the 80s - Back To The Future. I'm looking forward to the changes as this will hopefully reset the grid and not allow Red Bull to bulldoze their way through the season and make it another boring one.

Now I'm not really that technical in F1 although I am really a fanatic fan and I understand how most races will go by looking at free practice, qualifying, how the cars runs over time but these changes need a really experienced insider to know how they will affect the racing next year. That is why I'm sharing what Gary Anderson, BBC F1 technical analyst has to say about it.

Read the full article HERE.

The cars that emerge at the end of January for the start of pre-season testing will look very different from those of the last few years - and they will be even more radically changed under the skin. There are significant changes to the chassis regulations and even bigger ones to the engine, which together amount to probably the biggest change in rules in a lifetime.

ENGINES

The V8 engines produced about 780bhp. The new turbo engines will on their own produce in the region of 620bhp or more, but the electrical energy will increase that back up to at least the same as before. Some insiders have even said total power could be as high as 840bhp at the start of 2014.

DESIGN

The most striking aspect of the new cars will be a much lower nose, as well as a narrower front wing, and the chassis rules could lead to some ungainly designs.

FUEL

Those with long memories will recall that when fuel limits were introduced to F1 with turbo engines in the mid-1980s, races were marked in the early years by cars running out of fuel.

RELIABILITY

The engine is much more reliant on electrical power for its overall performance, so there will be no more winning races with a broken energy-recovery system, as Red Bull have done several times over the last few years.

Read the full article HERE.

Next year should be interesting again. We'll have to watch the next few months for news on teams progress and especially winter testing.

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BRAZILIAN GP 2013 ANALYSIS

The season is finally over. It has been a long journey and now we look forward to the 2014 season with all the changes. Hoping there won't be a Vettel/Red Bull domination again after 4 years in a row.

Here is a superb race analysis of the last race in Brazil before we move on. As usual it was done by James Allen with input from Mark Gillan and the Williams F1 team.

The full report is HERE.

The Brazilian Grand Prix ended the 2013 season on a high note, with an exciting race, which was a real journey into the unknown for the drivers and strategists because it was a dry race that came at the end of a wet weekend.

The Pirelli medium and hard compound tyres were selected for the weekend, but the first time they came out of the tyre blankets was as the cars went to the grid.

This made for an interesting race, where teams had to feel their way as the race unfolded, with no data on tyre wear or degradation and a persistent threat of rain, which fell lightly in the final third of the race, but never enough to necessitate a move to intermediate tyres.

Key strategy decisions had a bearing on the outcome.

The full report is HERE.

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