By Nick Sparkes
June 16 2005

Formula One's governing body has released a proposed plan for radical changes to the technical regulations for 2008, this includes a return to slicks, a single tyre manufacture, limited testing and pink Ferrari's.

Okay, so the pink Ferrari's was a joke, but it was an idea put forward by Minardi's Paul Stoddard... i'm only kidding! More seriously, the FIA have listened to the views of the fan's and come up with a few more changes in an effort to improve the sport from 2008 and beyond.

The FIA document stated "safety, fairness, keeping the current six major car manufacturers involved, preserving the independent teams and ensuring that the public continue to enjoy Formula 1" and this comes after the rumour BMW are to buy Sauber and Jordan to go bust leaving very little in terms of independent teams in the long run.

The proposal's are:

A reduction in areodynamics to around 10% of the current regulations.

An increased car width to lower straightline speeds.

A return to slick tyres.

A single tyre supplier (rumoured to be Michelin).

A ban on tyre warmers.

A standard FIA-issued Electronic Control Unit to be fitted to all cars to enable the elimination of electronic driver aids i.e traction control.

All cars to run with standard, manual gearboxes and foot-operated clutches.

No more pits-to-car telemetry.

A testing limit of 30,000km per team between January 1st and December 31st (subject to a single tyre supplier).

A ban on the spare car.

Teams will be allowed to purchase chassis' (the same as engines) on a customer basis.

There are a few more extra's but these are the most important, but we will have to wait until September until everything is hopefully finalised. But whatever happens, it seems Formula One is heading in the right direction, which can only be a good thing for the Fans.