Despite some cost-cutting at Formula One and changes in the design of its race cars, one constant remains in the international racing series for 2009: The teams to beat are McLaren Mercedes and Ferrari.
The two teams combined to win 14 of the 18 races last year and McLaren's driver Lewis Hamilton, at 23, edged Ferrari's Felipe Massa by a single point to become the series' youngest champion in history.
Hamilton did so by making a dramatic pass on the final turn of the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix. That enabled the Briton to finish fifth and earn the extra point needed to grasp the title from Massa, who won the race.
Formula One opens its season March 29 in Australia, where Hamilton won a year ago, but there are two major changes in its 2009 schedule. The series dropped its races in Canada and France and added one in Abu Dhabi, which will be the season finale Nov. 1.
Having already dropped the U.S. Grand Prix in Indianapolis, the loss of the Canadian race means Formula One no longer competes in North America, even though the continent is one of the largest markets for the companies that sponsor the series and its teams.
And with sponsorship money becoming scarcer amid the weak global economy, Formula One officials are trying to aggressively lower the sport's operating costs. Those lofty costs, which can exceed $300 million per race team annually, prompted Japanese automaker Honda to leave the series after last season.
Formula One's teams and the series' governing body, the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile, agreed in December to a series of cost-cutting proposals for this season, including using engines for longer periods and reducing testing and wind-tunnel research.
The FIA estimated that the changes this year could save the teams about 30% of their budgets, and it said even more cost cuts were being contemplated. But any shift toward standardizing engines and chassis as a way to slash expenses is making some teams nervous, with Ferrari and Toyota saying they still want to see vibrant competition for technologically advanced race cars.
The FIA also ordered aerodynamic changes, in part to foster closer racing, and several of the teams recently introduced new cars for the 2009 season. They included Ferrari's F60, McLaren's MP4-24 and Renault's R29, which look noticeably different from last year's models.
