Formula 1 2011 season preview: teams, drivers, calendar and regulations

Calendar for season 2011

The 2011 Formula One season start on March 27 in Melbourne and ends on November 27 in Sao Paulo. The original calendar consisted of twenty rounds, including the inaugural Indian Grand Prix. The Bahrain Grand Prix was originally scheduled to be the opening race of the season, but was called off in light of anti-government protests. A final decision on whether the race will be rescheduled or cancelled outright will be made by May.

New regulations

Pirelli was chosen as the tyre supplier for 2011. All teams moved to establish a close alliance with Pirelli to prevent any individual team gaining an unfair advantage, through the sharing of all tyre information. The Pirelli logo on each tyre will be colour-coded to identify each compound being used (super-softs = red, softs = yellow, mediums = white, hards = silver, wets = orange, intermediates = light blue). Cars will have a mandatory weight distribution, reported to be a ratio of 46:54, to provide Pirelli with a technical specification, and preventing teams making changes to the internal configuration of their cars should they prove not to suit the cars.

Gearboxes must now last for five races instead of four. Drivers will have one additional gearbox that may be changed without penalty for the purposes of completing an event.

KERS units will be optional for all teams, after not being utilised in 2010 following a team agreement banning the devices.

2011 will see the return of the 107% rule in qualifying. Any driver who fails to set a time within 107% of the fastest lap in Q1 will not be permitted to take part in the race.

The maximum height of the diffuser will be cut from 175 millimetres to 125 millimetres and the double diffuser designs, introduced in the 2009 season, will be excluded, in order to reduce aerodynamic downforce and turbulent air. Also banned are double exhaust-blown diffusers, which use exhaust gases re-routed over the diffuser to increase downforce, although single blown diffusers are still allowed.

"F-duct" systems, developed by McLaren and copied by other teams, are banned as the system relying on drivers blocking a gap in the cockpit was judged unsafe.

An adjustable rear wing system was confirmed as an addition to the 2011 rules, designed to aid overtaking as a substitute for the F-duct system, known as the Drag Reduction System. The drivers will only be able to use it when they are within one second of the car in front, but it would not be usable within the first two laps of a race except in the case of an early safety car. Furthermore, the drivers will only be able to use the adjustable wing on a designated area of the circuit, to be decided by race director. The system is expected to offer drivers an additional 15 km/h when passing, and will deactivate when the driver first touches the brakes.

Main team changes in 2011

• BMW Sauber will revert to the name Sauber in 2011. The team was forced to retain the BMW naming for 2010 due to issues involving television rights money.
• After sponsoring the team for the 2010 season, Russian sports car manufacturer Marussia acquired a controlling stake of Virgin Racing, with the team changing its name to Marussia Virgin Racing.
• Lotus Racing purchased the rights to the "Team Lotus" name from David Hunt, with the intention of renaming the team. The use of the Team Lotus name led to a naming dispute with Lotus Cars. The team terminated their contract with Cosworth and will use Renault engines from 2011.
• Lotus Cars become title sponsor of the team Renault F1, with a view to taking full control over the next few years. The team will be known as Lotus Renault GP.
• Infiniti, the luxury brand of Nissan of whom Renault own a 44% stake, would become a major sponsor of Red Bull Racing.

This is introduction to Formula 1 season 2011. Latest F1 news, stats and results you can find on our main Formula 1 page.

Driver changes in 2011

• Robert Kubica was injured while competing in the Andora rally during the winter off-season, leaving him with multiple fractures. The nature of his injuries were serious enough to prevent him from beginning the season. His former BMW Sauber team-mate Nick Heidfeld was confirmed as his replacement at Lotus Renault GP.
• GP2 driver Jerome d'Ambrosio replaced Lucas di Grassi at Virgin Racing.
• DTM champion Paul di Resta replaced Vitantonio Liuzzi at Force India.
• Narain Karthikeyan will return to Formula One with Hispania after last racing with Jordan Grand Prix in 2005, which was run at the time by Hispania team principal Colin Kolles.
• Vitantonio Liuzzi joined Hispania Racing as their second driver.
• 2010 GP2 Series champion Pastor Maldonado was signed by Williams after testing for the team in the young driver tests in Abu Dhabi.
• Sergio Perez, runner-up in the GP2 Series, was signed by Sauber to partner Kamui Kobayashi.

2011 teams and drivers line-up

Red Bull Racing

chasis: RB7   engine: Renault RS27-2011
drivers: [1] Sebastian Vettel, [2] Mark Webber, Daniel Ricciardo

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

chasis: MP4-26   engine: Mercedes FO 108Y
drivers: [3] Lewis Hamilton, [4] Jenson Button, Pedro de la Rosa, Gary Paffett

Ferrari Marlboro

chasis: 150 Italia   engine: Ferrari 056
drivers: [5] Fernando Alonso, [6] Felipe Massa, Giancarlo Fisichella, Jules Bianchi, Marc Gene

Mercedes GP Petronas

chasis: MGP W02   engine: Mercedes FO 108Y
drivers: [7] Michael Schumacher, [8] Nico Rosberg

Lotus Renault GP

chasis: R31   engine: Renault RS27-2011
drivers: [9] Nick Heidfeld, [10] Vitaly Petrov, Bruno Senna, Romain Grosjean, Fairuz Fauzy, Ho-Pin Tung, Jan Charouz

AT&T Williams

chasis: FW33   engine: Cosworth CA2011
drivers: [11] Rubens Barrichello, [12] Pastor Maldonado, Valtteri Bottas

Force India

chasis: VJM04   engine: Mercedes FO 108Y
drivers: [14] Adrian Sutil, [15] Paul di Resta, Nico Hulkenberg

Sauber

chasis: C30   engine: Ferrari 056
drivers: [16] Kamui Kobayashi, [17] Sergio Perez, Esteban Gutierrez

Scuderia Toro Rosso

chasis: STR6   engine: Ferrari 056
drivers: [18] Sebastien Buemi, [19] Jaime Alguersuari, Daniel Ricciardo

Team Lotus

chasis: T128   engine: Renault RS27-2011
drivers: [20] Heikki Kovalainen, [21] Jarno Trulli, Karun Chandhok, Luiz Razia, Davide Valsecchi, Ricardo Teixeira

Hispania Racing

chasis: F111   engine: Cosworth CA2011
drivers: [22] Narain Karthikeyan, [23] Vitantonio Liuzzi

Marussia Virgin Racing

chasis: MVR-02   engine: Cosworth CA2011
drivers: [24] Timo Glock, [25] Jerome d'Ambrosio

2010 driver standings

2010 team standings