KERS, comprises of a large battery for storing energy (through braking), which can be released at the press of a button for an additional power boost

A sweeping new set of regulations that are said to change the face of Formula One will result in a grid of radically different looking machines as they line-up for the first round of the championship in 2009 at Melbourne.

The new cars feature slick tyres (finally eradicating the grooves that have blighted the sport since 1998), larger front and rear wings, to make the cars less reliant on aerodynamic downforce and more likely to overtake, and KERS, the Kinetic Energy Regeneration System.

In short, KERS, comprises of a large battery for storing energy (through braking), which can be released at the press of a button for an additional power boost.

All measures have been put in place to improve overtaking, and add to 'the show'. Ferrari and McLaren will once again go head-to-head as the championship favourites – and both teams fielding an unchanged driver line-up, Lewis Hamilton and Heiki Kovaleinen for McLaren and Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen for Ferrari.