2009 Formula One World Championship (Alt)

This is a fictional account of an alternative version of the 2009 F1 season. For the real 2009 season, see the 2009 Formula One World Championship

The **2009 FIA Formula One World Championship** was the 63rd season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 60th Formula One World Championship which was contested over 17 events commencing with the Australian Grand Prix on 29 March and ending with the inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on 1 November.

Jenson Button and Brawn GP secured the Drivers' Championship and Constructors' Championship titles, respectively, in the Brazilian Grand Prix, the penultimate race of the season. It was both Button and Brawn's first championship success, Brawn becoming the first team to win the Constructors' Championship in their debut season. Also notable was the success of Red Bull Racing, as well as the poor performance of McLaren and Ferrari compared to the previous season.

Ten teams participated in the championship after several rule changes were implemented by the FIA to cut costs to try to minimise the financial difficulties. There were further changes to try to improve the on-track spectacle with the return of slick tyres, changes to aerodynamics and the introduction of kinetic energy recovery systems (KERS) presenting some of the biggest changes in Formula One regulations for several decades.

The Brawn team, formed as a result of a management buyout of the Honda team, won six of the first seven races, their ability to make the most of the new regulations being a deciding factor in the championship. Red Bull Racing caught up in an unpredictable second half of the season, with the season being the first time since 2005 that all participating teams had scored World Championship points. Sebastian Vettel and Button's teammate Rubens Barrichello were his main challengers over the season, winning six races between them to finish in second and third, respectively.

## Teams and drivers

The following teams and drivers competed in the 2009 FIA Formula One World Championship: Teams competed with tyres supplied by Bridgestone.

### Team changes

**Honda -> Brawn.** Honda withdrew ahead of the 2009 season, and the team was bought by a consortium led by team principal Ross Brawn. Brawn renamed the team Brawn GP, and raced with Mercedes engines, but retained Honda drivers Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello.

**Force India: Ferrari -> Mercedes.**

**Super Aguri withdrew.**

### Driver changes

**David Coulthard retired, Sebastian Vettel: Toro Rosso -> Red Bull.** The only offseason driver change was following the retirement of Red Bull's David Coulthard after 14 years in Formula One. He was replaced by Sebastian Vettel, who had raced for Toro Rosso in 2008. Vettel's seat at Toro Rosso was taken by the Swiss driver Sébastien Buemi, who was Red Bull's test driver in 2008.

Following the German Grand Prix, Toro Rosso's Sébastien Bourdais was dropped by the team, with Toro Rosso principal Franz Tost claiming that the partnership had not met his expectations. Bourdais was replaced by Jaime Alguersuari ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix. Alguersuari had been racing in Formula Renault 3.5 Series in 2009, and had only signed a deal to replace Brendon Hartley as Toro Rosso's test driver two weeks prior. Bourdais was advised by counsel to file suit for breach of contract by Toro Rosso. Toro Rosso settled the matter with a $2.1 million payment to Bourdais to avoid litigation.

After sustaining an injury during qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix, Ferrari's Felipe Massa missed the remainder of the season. He was replaced for the next two races by Ferrari test driver Luca Badoer, but after Badoer failed to score a single point in his two races, Ferrari replaced him with Giancarlo Fisichella who had signed a deal to be a Ferrari test driver for 2010 and had driven for Force India throughout the 2009 season. Fisichella's seat at Force India was taken by Vitantonio Liuzzi, who was Force India's test driver.

Following the Hungarian Grand Prix, Renault parted ways with Nelson Piquet Jr. as he had failed to score a single point and allegations that he had intentionally crashed during the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix surfaced. Piquet was replaced by Romain Grosjean, who was Renault's test driver.

In qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix, Toyota's Timo Glock crashed heavily at the last corner and was airlifted to hospital with a leg injury. As he was not fit to race, Jarno Trulli was the only driver representing Toyota at the Japanese Grand Prix. On 11 October, Toyota confirmed that its test driver Kamui Kobayashi would make his race debut in the Brazilian Grand Prix, as Glock had suffered further complications from his accident, resulting in a cracked vertebra and he would not be guaranteed to be fit in time to race in Brazil. Kobayashi retained the seat in the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi.

## Season calendar

The following rounds were included on the provisional calendars published by the FIA but were cancelled:

 French Grand Prix

### Calendar changes

* The Chinese Grand Prix was brought forward from its October date to April to become the third round of the championship.
* Abu Dhabi made its first appearance on the F1 calendar under the name Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, with a race being held at the Yas Marina Circuit on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi on 1 November – the final round of the 2009 season. That meant the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was the new final round of the 2009 season.
* The Japanese Grand Prix changed circuits from the Fuji Speedway in Oyama to the Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka.
* The Canadian Grand Prix and the French Grand Prix were removed from the calendar. The former would return a year later in 2010.

## Rule changes

* Slick tyres returned for the first time since they were banned for the 1998 season. Bridgestone continued to be the sole supplier of tyres, and drivers still had to use both compounds of tyre during a race. Soft tyres were differentiated by a green marking around the sides of the tyres, rather than a white marking in a groove as used in 2008. Further, wet tyres were renamed "intermediate" and extreme-weather tyres were renamed "wet".
* The aerodynamic regulations were radically altered for the 2009 season. The front wings were made lower and wider, while rear wings were changed to be higher and narrower. As well as the changes in the dimensions of the wings, bodywork became much more regulated with many of the additional components seen in previous seasons (including barge boards, winglets and turning vanes) removed, making 2009 cars noticeably different in appearance than in previous years. The diffuser at the rear of the car was moved back and upwards. Many other minor chassis components were also standardised. The aim of the new aerodynamic regulations, as well as the reintroduction of slick tyres, was to decrease reliance on aerodynamic downforce and increase mechanical grip with the aim of making wheel-to-wheel racing easier.
* For the first time, cars were allowed to use driver adjustable bodywork, in the form of adjustable flaps in the front wing. The flaps could be adjusted by up to six degrees, limited to only two adjustments per lap. Adjustable front wings were designed to improve downforce when following another car, another change designed to improve overtaking.
* Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems, a regenerative braking device designed to recover some of the vehicle's kinetic energy normally dissipated as heat during braking, were introduced for the 2009 season. The recovered energy can be stored electrically, in a battery or supercapacitor, or mechanically, in a flywheel, for use as a source of additional accelerative power at the driver's discretion by way of a *boost button* on the steering wheel. The regulations limit the additional power to around 82 hp (61 kW) of 400kJ for six seconds a lap. The systems were not made compulsory, and because of concerns about both limited performance gains and safety implications only four teams opted to use the system during the season.
* While the FIA were planning on introducing a budget cap to limit the amount of spending by Formula One teams in 2008, the amount was not agreed upon and the budget cap idea was dropped. Instead, costs were brought down by a complete ban on in-season testing, a forced reduction in wind tunnel usage, the sharing of more data during race weekends, an increased minimum engine lifespan and gearboxes had to last for four races, and a penalty of five places in the starting grid was applied, should a driver change it during the weekend before the start of the race.
* Each driver was limited to a maximum of eight engines throughout the season, in addition to four engines for practice/testing purposes; using additional engines resulted in a 10-place grid penalty for each additional engine used. To aid improvements in reliability, the engines were detuned from 19,000 RPM to 18,000 rpm.
* The rule stating that the pit lane is closed during a safety car period was scrapped in 2009. The rule was introduced in 2007 to prevent drivers rushing back to the pits to refuel, possibly speeding through a danger zone, but software was successfully developed to solve this problem. The pit lane speed limit was also increased from 50 mph (80 km/h) to 62 mph (100 km/h).

## Results and standings

### Scoring system

Points were awarded to the top eight classified finishers.

If two or more competitors had the same number of points (including 0 points), their positions in the championship were fixed according to the quality of their places. Under this system one first place was better than any number of second places, one second place was better than any number of third places, and so on.