Melbourne, Feb 24: This year, new rule changes will be implemented, including a ban automatic gearboxes. Coulthard thinks this new rule could create overtaking opportunities. "One of the rule changes for this year is an electronic change, which means the drivers have to make the gear shift themselves. That might seem like an obvious thing for the public, for drivers to have to change gear but in the past year, its all been fully automatic. Now we'll make that shift and that should, if a driver makes a small mistake and changes too early or too late, you'll lose some speed and it should create an overtaking opportunity for the car behind," Coulthard said. Another significant change is the ban on launch control sytems used to ensure a quick and clean blast-off at the start, and Raikkonen thinks this is a challenge for the drivers. "Basically we need to make the start ourselves now and you can gain or you can lose much more this year and it's going to be much more difficult to get a good start as we did last year but I think its a much bigger challenge for drivers and for the team to make good starts now," Raikkonen said.
The first race of the season, the Australian Grand Prix, takes place on March 7 at Albert Park in Melbourne. Coulthard, who won the race last year, said that the 5.303 kilometre street circuit is quite challenging and is usually a reasonable indication as to the performance of cars through the course of the season.


Bureau Report