Formula 1 2008 season preview: teams, drivers, calendar and regulations

Main team changes and driver transfers in 2008

• Only a year after Spyker bought the team from Midland, Indian billionaire Vijay Mallya bought the team for € 88 million. Mallya was granted permission to change the team's name to Force India. Drivers will be Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil.
• Toyota ends their sponsorship deal with Kingfisher Airlines due to the fact that Kingfisher Airliners' owner Dr. Vijay Mallya wants to focus on the new F1 team Force India.

This is introduction to Formula 1 season 2008. Latest F1 news, stats and results you can find on our main Formula 1 page.

• Fernando Alonso moves back to Renault from McLaren. He is released from his 3 year contract after just one season with the British team. Alonso will be partnered by rookie Nelson Piquet Jr.
• Heikki Kovalainen leaves Renault and joins McLaren.
• Timo Glock replaced Ralf Schumacher in Toyota.
• Kazuki Nakajima will be partner to Nico Rosberg in Williams.
• Giancarlo Fisichella moves from Renault to Force India.
• Alexander Wurz will be reserve driver for Honda after leaving Williams just before the Brazilian GP.
• Vitantonio Liuzzi leaves Scuderia Toro Rosso to join Force India as a test driver.

Calendar for season 2008

2008 Formula One season will begin on 16 March and end on 2 November after 18 races. Grands Prix in Valencia and Singapore have been added while the US Grand Prix has been dropped.

Singapore will host a Grand Prix from 2008 for the next five years. It will be a street circuit, with the route designed by Hermann Tilke.

The European Grand Prix will take place at the Valencia Street Circuit. Turkish Grand Prix has been moved from May to August. The German Grand Prix will continue to alternate between the Nurburgring and Hockenheim.

Main new regulations for 2008

• First part of qualifying lengthened to 20 minutes while final part shortened to 10 minutes.
• The first unscheduled engine change of the season for each car will not lead to the 10 place grid penalty.
• All cars must be fitted with a standard Electronic Control Unit (ECU) supplied by McLaren Electronic Systems.
• A gearbox must last 4 consecutive events - 5 place grid penalty for a unscheduled gear box change.
• Traction control banned along with several other electronic aids including engine braking.
• Fuel must be made up of at least 5.75% biological materials to comply with the European law on fuel composition.
• Bridgestone will be the official tyre supplier for the 2008, 2009 and 2010 seasons.

Teams and drivers line-up

Ferrari

chasis: F2008   engine: Ferrari 056
drivers: [1] Kimi Raikkonen, [2] Felipe Massa, Luca Badoer, Marc Gene

BMW

chasis: F1.08   engine: BMW P86/8
drivers: [3] Nick Heidfeld, [4] Robert Kubica, Christian Klien, Marko Asmer

Renault

chasis: R28   engine: Renault RS27
drivers: [5] Fernando Alonso, [6] Nelson Piquet Jr., Lucas di Grassi, Romain Grosjean, Sakon Yamamoto

Williams

chasis: FW30   engine: Toyota RVX-08
drivers: [7] Nico Rosberg, [8] Kazuki Nakajima, Nico Hulkenberg

Red Bull

chasis: RB4   engine: Renault RS27
drivers: [9] David Coulthard, [10] Mark Webber, Sebastien Buemi

Toyota

chasis: TF108   engine: Toyota RVX-08
drivers: [11] Jarno Trulli, [12] Timo Glock, Kamui Kobayashi

Toro Rosso

chasis: STR2B   engine: Ferrari 056
drivers: [14] Sebastien Bourdais, [15] Sebastian Vettel

Honda

chasis: RA108   engine: Honda RA808E
drivers: [16] Jenson Button, [17] Rubens Barrichello

Super Aguri

chasis: SA08   engine: Honda RA808E
drivers: [18] Takuma Sato, [19] Anthony Davidson

Force India Formula One Team

chasis: VJM-01   engine: Ferrari 056
drivers: [20] Adrian Sutil, [21] Giancarlo Fisichella, Vitantonio Liuzzi

McLaren

chasis: MP4-23   engine: Mercedes FO108V
drivers: [22] Lewis Hamilton, [23] Heikki Kovalainen, Pedro de la Rosa, Gary Paffett

2007 driver standings

2007 team standings