2009 Formula One Season

Background
2009 saw the first regulation changes since 2005 that would send the cars into "a modern era". Rear wings became taller and more narrow, front wings became lower and wider, slick tires returned to the grid, and the all new Kinetic Energy Recovery System was tried out by many teams. It featured fifteen races beginning with Dubai on 29 March, and ending at Rio de Janeiro on 4 October. The defending champions were Auraline-Lotus Dreamtec who beat Polestar-Volvo in the constructors championship. Takuma Sato took his first drivers championship in 2008 rounding off a WDC and WCC double for the Icelandic-run team.

Preseason
Preseason got underway with different teams each leading a preseason test each day. Day one was Kimi Raikkonen who went top of the charts. The first signs and fears of the new regulation change started to show on the previous front runners of 2008. Auraline-Lotus had the worst of the three having his drivers finishing the first test 12th and 13th. Auraline-Lotus would rebound to 6th best in day two as they were still figuring out what went wrong in the off season. IKEA Jenkins would struggle as well. McLaren looked strong as Robert Kubica would go 2nd fastest behind Jenson Button. Day three was plagued by rain for the whole session the test was to show who had better aero and chassis. Auraline-Lotus finished top of the charts with Alonso almost .4 behind. Brawn would struggle down in 18th and 19th as they were beaten by the incomers Maserati Andretti. With all the rain cleared teams finally showed true pace on the final day of testing. Alonso went quickest with Heidfeld close behind. The rest of the field was a distance behind with Kimi .4 back on Alonso and Di Grassi a staggering two seconds down on pace.