The F1 Commission has agreed on a second new points system for F1, amending the proposal they made in December.

A win will still be worth 25 points and the value of a second place finish has been slightly reduced – but the value of other lower-placed finished has been increased.

The Commission has also decided to make drivers who qualify in the top ten start the race on the same tyre as they qualified on, which they hope will “introduce a further element of strategy” and “improve the show”.

Revised points system

The revised F1 points system increases the points difference between winning and finishing second from five to seven, which the FIA hopes will “further encourage the ‘race to win’”:

1st – 25 points
2nd – 18 points
3rd – 15 points
4th – 12 points
5th – 10 points
6th – 8 points
7th – 6 points
8th – 4 points
9th – 2 points
10th – 1 point

However, as discussed here earlier, it also offers more points for drivers who finish lower down the running order, increasing the likelikood that championship leaders will be able to collect lower placed finishes to guarantee themselves the title instead of pushing for wins.

Read more on that and see how the new points system would have changed the 2009 championship here: Teams considering an even more generous points system for 2010

The ‘top ten tyre’ rule

With refuelling banned this year, the requirement for the top ten qualifiers to start the race on the fuel load they qualified on was to be removed. However the Commission has decided to continue handicapping the top ten qualifiers by making them start the race on the tyres they qualified:

Cars having participated in Q3 must start the race on the same set of tyres with which their grid time was set.
F1 Commission statement

Presumably an exception will be made in the event of rain during qualifying or the race.

Disappointingly, this means we will not get to see ‘pure’ qualifying in 2010, as the quickest drivers will be compromised by tyre choice.

As I’ve already said here, I think this is needless meddling with the rules which will at best have a minimal effect on the quality of racing in 2010.

More on that here: Stop the needless rules changes

2011 double diffuser ban

Double diffusers will be banned in 2011 if the Commission’s proposal is accepted.

This will cut the amount of downforce the cars can generate and reduce cornering speeds. Whether it will help cars follow more closely – and thereby increase overtaking – is a subject of much debate.

Double diffusers

• Adrian Newey says banning double diffusers won’t help overtaking
• A change for the better: double diffusers likely to be banned in 2011

Other changes

There will be a further reduction in the number of tyres a team may use at each weekend, with 11 sets of four now available instead of 14.

This is good news for Bridgestone, who will now have to supply far fewer tyres in 2010 than they were expecting. It may even be interpreted as an attempt to get them to reverse their decision to leave the sport at the end of this year by reducing their costs.

More on that here: Bridgestone to make surprise F1 exit

“Improving the show”

The F1 Commission’s proposal will now go before the World Motor Sports Council where they are very likely to be accepted. However it remains to be seen whether Jean Todt will be satisfied they have done enough to “improve the show” as he urged them to. Their statement adds:

Further measures for 2010 are also being examined.
F1 Commission statement

You can read the full statement here.

Do you think F1 needs to “improve the show”? Will these changes help? Have your say below.

Felipe Massa says he already prefers the behaviour of the new Ferrari F10 to last year's difficult F60, having topped the testing times at Valencia today (Monday) as the 2010 season preparations kicked off following the end of the testing ban.

Ferrari endured a miserable 2009 season, and shelved development on last season's car early in the summer to pour resources into the new F60 instead.

On the basis of his performance today, Massa reckons that strategy is paying off.

"I think it was a very positive day – the car behaved very well," he said.

"We managed to start and finish our programme like expected, even some more laps than expected.

"So I think everything went very well on the first day and the car behaved in a good direction in terms of I felt [it is an] easier car to drive compared to last year.

"Last year it was always difficult to find the direction and find the balance.

"This year, it was just one day, but at least in the first day it was quite positive and quite easy to find the direction on the set-up and the balance of the car.

"Also with the tyres I didn’t feel any problem to work on these tyres so I think everything went in a very good direction for the first day.

"But it’s not enough. There’s still a lot of work to do to improve the car before the first race, which is the most important thing."

Today's test was Massa's first run in a contemporary F1 car since he suffered terrible head injuries in a crash at the Hungaroring last year – and he said he was overjoyed to be back.

"I’m happy to be back after such a long time watching the races on the television and some times at the track," he said.

"I’m very good on the physical point of view.

"I did 100 laps but I could have done much more and I’m 100% ready to come back to racing."

He said topping the times was particularly pleasing given that it was his first test with other drivers since his accident.

"It’s always nice to be first in any occasion. Even if you are joking with your mum, it is nice to be first!" Massa joked.

"I think after the difficult time I had it is always nice to go on the track competitively.

Interesting news as Ferrari reservce driver Giancarlo Fisichella has signed up to contest the Le Mans Series in 2010.

The 37-year-old is a veteran of 231 grands prix since 1996, but he will be Ferrari's reserve driver this season.

However, the Automobile Club de l'Ouest's Le Mans Series said on Monday that Fisichella will contest "the whole season" of the endurance sports car calendar in 2010.

A full entry list will be published within days, but it emerges that he will drive a Ferrari F430 with AF Corse in the LMGT2 category.

Two Le Mans Series races clash with F1 rounds in 2010: May 9's 1000km of Spa (Spanish GP), and the 1000km of Silverstone (Italian GP) in September.

Two pieces of good and exciting new for Ferrari fans today. First of all, Felipe Massa was fastest in his first test in a competitive showing, which underlies his FULL recovery. Secondly, the F10 has pace and looked good in Valencia.



Felipe Massa announced his return to Formula 1 by setting the fastest time on the first day of 2010 testing.

The Ferrari driver ended today's Valencia session 0.2s ahead of second-placed Pedro de la Rosa's Sauber, while Michael Schumacher immediately showed his pace by taking third place for Mercedes.

Although Massa had been given several outings in 2007 and 2008 Ferraris to prove his fitness following his horrific accident in Hungary last year, today's first test for the new F10 was his first fully-fledged F1 appearance since the crash.

He was fastest for the majority of the day, although de la Rosa briefly edged ahead for the newly-independent Sauber team in the middle of the afternoon.

Massa returned to the top in the final 15 minutes, though, lapping in 1m12.574s to beat the Spaniard by 0.210s.

The main talking point of the day is likely to be Schumacher's performance.

His team-mate Nico Rosberg was given the honour of taking Mercedes' new car out first, with the seven times champion taking over for the last hour and a half.

Within 18 laps Schumacher had beaten Rosberg's time, and he ended the day one place and 0.6s ahead of the younger German.
There was a brief shock when Schumacher appeared at the top of the timing screens with a lap a full 4s faster than the competition - but this was swiftly disallowed as he had missed part of the course.

McLaren test driver Gary Paffett was fifth, followed by Rubens Barrichello - who caused the day's sole red flag when his Williams stopped on track in the closing stages, causing the session to be extended by 10 minutes.

Toro Rosso's Sebastien Buemi and Renault's Robert Kubica brought up the tail of the field.


Monday's test times from Valencia:

1  MASSA       Ferrari      1m12.574s (102)
2  DE LA ROSA  Sauber       1m12.784s (74)
3  SCHUMACHER  Mercedes     1m12.944s (40)
4  ROSBERG     Mercedes     1m13.543s (39)
5  PAFFETT     McLaren      1m13.846s (86)
6  BARRICHELLO Williams     1m14.449s (75)
7  BUEMI       Toro Rosso   1m14.762s (18)
8  KUBICA      Renault      1m15.000s (68)

Formula 1 teams' preparations for the new season have begun in earnest on Monday as the new cars hit the track for the first time in testing.

Six new cars are running at the Valencia track in Spain at the start of a three-day test.

Three of the sport's big four teams have their new cars on track - McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari - along with Williams, Renault and Sauber.

BBC Sport will be rounding up the news as it happens in Spain

"A lunchtime snap-shot sees Felipe Massa continue to lead the pack, as he has all morning, with a fastest lap of 1:13.088 ahead of Pedro de la Rosa's Sauber (1.13.247) and Nico Rosberg's Mercedes (1:13.543).

Monday, the first OFFICIAL day of testing has began and tons of new photos of new cars have been released.

Mercedes



Renault



Toro Rosso



Williams



BMW Sauber

Virgin Racing will unveil its first Formula 1 car via an online launch next Wednesday.

The Sheffield-based operation – which was rebranded as Virgin after Manor GP gained a 2010 entry last year – is pioneering an “all-digital” design process for its 2010 car that relies on a sophisticated simulation method known as Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD).

And in keeping with the digital theme, the team has announced that its first car to be designed by that approach, to be called the VR-01, will be launched on its official website from 10am on February 3.

Virgin will therefore become the first of F1’s four new entrants to unveil its 2010 car, Lotus being the only other debutant to have confirmed its launch plans to date with the returning marque to reveal its challenger at London’s Royal Horticultural Hall on February 12.

The forthcoming days will see more of F1’s established squads show off their new cars for the first time, with Sauber and Renault first up on Sunday at Valencia’s Ricardo Tormo circuit.

Mercedes, Williams and Toro Rosso’s respective challengers will then break cover on Monday as pre-season testing gets underway at the same circuit.

Raikkonen was placed second overall in the Arctic Lapland Rally when his car left the road and crashed into a tree on the event's second stage, the 23km Aittajär.



Finland's 2007 Formula One champion Kimi Raikkonen has crashed on his first competitive event driving for the Citroen Junior World Rally Team.

Kimi and co-driver Kaj Lindstrom were unhurt in the incident, but their C4 World Rally Car sustained damage to its right-hand front corner. With help from spectators the pair eventually got the car back on the road and underway again, but the episode cost them more than 15 minutes on the stage, and more than 20 minutes of penalty time.

The team is hopeful that once the car is repaired in service, Raikkonen will be able to continue in today's competition.

The track debut of Ferrari's newly launched F10 car on Friday had to be called off.

The Italian team wanted Felipe Massa to drive the car for the first time at Fiorano on Thursday after the official launch.

But that run was called off due to bad weather, and Ferrari confirmed on Friday that the conditions were again too bad for a maiden outing.

"Snow and ice here didn't allow the Brazilian driver to go onto the track with the F10," said the team.

Ferrari explained that the problem is not the condition of the tarmac, but the run-off areas, which in the event of off-track excursions could damage the car.

"Felipe will have to wait for another 72 hours until he can finally drive his new car on Monday, 1 February, on the Ricardo Tormo circuit in Cheste just outside Valencia," the Maranello based team added.

Sorry for the lateness of this post. I have been ill :)

The McLaren MP4-25 has been launched today.

So now we can see how it compares to arch-rival Ferrari’s 2010 car, the F10, which was launched yesterday.

Have a look at the two cars side-by-side in these pictures to see how two of F1’s powerhouse teams have tackled the 2010 regulations.



Image credit: F1Fanatic.co.uk