Formula One --- The Pinnacle of Motorsports

Renault
Race Drivers: Fernando Alonso, Giancarlo Fisichella
Test & Reserve Driver: Heikki Kovalainen, Franck Montagny

McLaren-Mercedes
Race Drivers: Kimi Raikkonen, Juan Pablo Montoya
Test & Reserve Drivers: Pedro de la Rosa, Alexander Wurz, Gary Paffett

Ferrari
Race Drivers: Michael Schumacher, Felipe Massa
Test & Reserve Drivers: Luca Badoer, Marc Gene

Toyota
Race Drivers: Jarno Trulli, Ralf Schumacher
Test & Reserve Drivers: Olivier Panis, Ricardo Zonta

Williams-Cosworth
Race Drivers: Mark Webber, Nico Rosberg
Test & Reserve Driver: to be confirmed

Honda
Race Drivers: Jenson Button, Rubens Barrichello
Test & Reserve Driver: to be confirmed

Sauber-BMW
Race Drivers: Nick Heidfeld, Jacque Villeneuve
Test & Reserve Driver: Robert Kubica

Red Bull
Race Drivers: David Coulthard, Christian Klien
Test & Reserve Driver: Robert Doornbos

Midland-Toyota
Race Drivers: Tiago Monteiro, Christjian Albers
Test & Reserve Driver: to be confirmed

Scuderia Toro Rosso
Race Drivers: Vitantonio Liuzzi, Scott Speed
Test & Reserve Driver: Neel Jani

Super Aguri
Race Drivers: to be confirmed
Test & Reserve Driver: to be confirmed

Word is that Toyota is preparing a whopping $275 million pounds bid in an attempt to lure iceman Kimi Raikkonen to the Japanese outfit!!!

That's enough money to buy an entire football club!!!
Now, wad say u Roman Abramovich???

Lets welcome Super Aguri F1 team into the 2006 season, they have finally obtained clearance from all other teams to participate in 2006. Now the finally hurdle will be the FIA, which is more or less just a formality, provided they can come up with the $40million bond.

Rumours are rife that Kimi Raikkonen might be driving a Ferrari in 2007! Reports state that Kimi has been unsettled by McLaren's new signing Fernando Alonso, and he is considering a move to Ferrari in 2007, when Michael Schumacher is slated to retire from racing! Speculate all u wan now, but things can only be confirmed once Kimi signs on the dotted line, and be very sure that i will be there to bring u the latest developments.

Meanwhile, McLaren has snapped up 2005 DTM champion Gary Paffett as test driver for 2006, alongside Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa. Now i'm wondering how McLaren always manages to sign these talented individuals, from Juan Pablo Montoya in 2005, Gary Paffett in 2006, to Fernando Alonso in 2007!!!

Below are the changes to the rules and regulations of the 2006 F1 season, courtesy of formula1.com...

Qualifying
For 2006, the single-lap system used in recent years is replaced by a new 3-part, knockout format, with multiple cars on track throughout the qualifying hour, which is split into two 15-min sessions and one 20-min session, with 5-minute breaks in between.

Part One(15-min): All 20 cars can run as many laps as they wish on any fuel load, the five slowest cars from this session will drop out and form grid positions 16th to 20th

Part Two(15-min): The remaining 15 cars can run as many laps as they wish on any fuel load, the five slowest from this lot will drop out and form 11th to 15th positions on the grid

Part Three(20-min): The final 10 cars will fight it out for the top ten grid positions, cars may run as many laps as they wish in their race fuel load, with the option to replenish their race fuel level after qualifying. Cars would be weighed to determine the amount of fuel consumed for qualifying, and only this amount may be added back to the cars after qualifying

Any driver deemed to have impeded other drivers' timed run is liable to having his lap times cancelled by race stewards

Engines
For 2006, engines are reduced in size from the previous 3-litre V10s to 2.4-litre V8s. The aim is to reduce cost and improve safety. With similar engine speeds, the change is expected to cut peak power around 200bhp, which translates to roughly a 5-second increment to lap times at most circuits. The FIA may allow smaller teams who do not have access to competitive V8s to run modified V10s with rev limits, to ensure performance is comparable to that of a V8

Tyres
Tyre changes will be allowed in the race again after a year's absence, rationale being the reduced engine size are expected to offset any performance gains from changing tyres during the race

Weekend Schedule
Saturday morning now features a single 1-hr practice session, as opposed to two 45-minute sessions, it will run from 1100 to 1200 local time. Qualifying will be held 2 hrs later at 1400 local time

According to formula1.com, Parc ferme is a fenced-off area into which cars are driven after qualifying and the race, where no team members are allowed to touch them except under the strict supervision of race stewards.

This is a new blog i've created to satisfy all the Formula One fans out there with the information they need for the sport. I have named this blog as Parc ferme as it symbolises this blog as a place where all the race aftermath happen, i will be bringing u the latest race results and analysis.

Personally i am a F1 fan too, so i would like to share whatever knowledge and news of the sport with my fellow F1 fanatics, so sit back and relax, enjoy ur time at my blog!