Eurosport - Tue, 02 Dec 13:27:00 2008
New regulations will leave next year's Formula One title battle wide open, according to McLaren's world champion Lewis Hamilton.
"I've already had a close look at the new car and the engineers have explained the philosophy behind it and just how different things will be next year," the 23-year-old Briton said via a press release.
"I've been watching testing with a lot of interest, I think the new cars will make next year's championship wide open and I'm really looking forward to tackling the new regulations," he added.
The 2009 cars have major aerodynamic changes and will also be using slick tyres instead of the grooved ones of recent years.
The season, which starts in Australia on March 29, will also see the introduction of KERS systems designed to convert the heat energy generated by the cars' brakes into short bursts of additional power.
Hamilton, who last month became the sport's youngest champion after beating Ferrari's Brazilian Felipe Massa by a single point, said he had no plans to return to the racetrack before January.
Instead, he will limber up with a team training camp at the Kuortane Sports Institute in western Finland before returning to Britain to perform a demonstration run in his McLaren at London's Wembley Stadium as part of the December 14 Race of Champions event.
"Finland is when it (the training) all starts again in earnest," said Hamilton, whose Finnish team mate Heikki Kovalainen will be testing again in Spain and Portugal this month after the camp in Finland.
"Brazil already seems a long time ago and I'm now focusing 100 per cent on 2009," he added.
"Before Christmas, I plan to take a holiday and return fresh and positive to kick start our winter test programme with the MP4-24 (car)."
Comment 17 - 36 of 76
I sorry my Marnio he make trouble there.
Although Marnio he seem grown, he has the sickness of the head and inside is just little boy, sometimes he has the accident in his bed.
Marnio he has no freinds so he invent his own and often make up stories. If Marnio he make you angry please ignore him and he will go away.
wheres terry tibbs he knows about cars dont he geezeer
I shall make my own prediction here, Lewis will win the first six races, have six gold medals, and the rules will change, just stop him,
I hopew lewis is right with his mouth and let others win more often. hehehehe
yeah in a place called the vine house stopped there myself last year good place.how he found out about it from Sunnyvale USA is anyone's guess
Definitely an open season next year. Most cars will break down....A LOT....with the KERS. I bet we'll have races where less than half the field finishes. With that, I say Vetal and Alonso will be within 5 points of Hamilton and Massa going into the final race this year with Alonso getting his third title, Vettal finishing second, and the other 2 tied for third.
hi chris sorry been following marion/cliff.eddy around.i found stivsf1 just usual drivel.none of these idiots are much of a challenge really very low intellect.did you see touri has had a drink with scummi what a guy my hero.
hey mario cliff.eddy dont go
(37) cliff.eddy again
marion from peru,get a life and stop hating,by the way u talk it shows how ugly and sad your own life is.
hamilton will rule F1forever.
I agree with u 10000% marion from peru. I was a Mclaren fan since i started watching F1 but after the spy saga i lost all respect for them and they cheated on the last round and won the championship. Oh well you better train much much more Lewis because Kimi will beat u down next year
(32) its cliff.eddy
its cliff.eddy
chris where is he
Hamilton could give £100m pounds to an orphanage and you @#$% Ferrari fans would try and find some fault in what he did. Sad, pathetic little losers the lot of you. What an incredible life you all must have carrying all that hate around and waiting anxiously until Hamilton is quoted in an article to give some meaning to them once again. Pathetic!
Oye Maricon. No seas tan infantil.
super brainbox mac bill .,. when asked who is the best CURRENT F1 driver competing
replied ., LAUDA .,., Ha Ha
hey marion, you look better than your posts suggest
marion from peru, are you marnio's girls friend?
so pretty, but not as beautiful as his donky..
why? or, as the Caterpillar was saying:
U R U ???
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