As Autosport revealed during the Chinese Grand Prix weekend, the teams discussed changing the regulations last week to clarify an aspect of the regulations that had caused discomfort.
Previously, auxiliary starts were judged solely on whether the FIA-supplied sensors installed on the cars detected movement before the start signal.
However, there were occasions where the cars appeared not to be at a standstill before the start of the race but were not punished because the sensors gave them the green light.
The most recent famous example was Lando Norris at this year’s Saudi Grand Prix, who briefly advanced before stopping before the lights went out. Although his actions were investigated by the stewards, it was decided that since the sensor had not detected anything abnormal, there was no reason to sanction him.
Following discussions between sporting directors and team bosses at last week’s F1 Commission meeting, it was agreed that the regulations would be tightened with immediate effect.
A revised Article 48 of F1’s Sporting Regulations has been branded a “false start” and sets out how rule violations will now be judged.
The reference that jump starts would be determined by transponder results has been removed.
Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images
Instead, a revised Article 48.1(a) of the Sporting Regulations states that an infraction will be considered to have occurred if a driver is judged to have: “moved after the four (4) second light is on and before the starting signal is given by turning off all the red lights.
Although Norris’ move in Saudi Arabia is the most recent example, several drivers have been stopped in recent years for appearing to move before the lights went off, but without triggering the sensor.
Valtteri Bottas was allowed an early start at the 2020 Hungarian Grand Prix, while a year earlier, then-Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel also escaped punishment in Japan.
Return of intermediate tires
The revised sporting regulations published by the FIA also include a clause to encourage teams to use intermediate tires during rainy testing sessions.
At last month’s Japanese Grand Prix, a loophole in the current wet tire rules meant almost all teams avoided racing in the rain-hit second free practice session because they didn’t want to burn the inter series that they might have needed. later in the weekend.
This was a consequence of F1 removing a regulation which granted teams an extra set of inters which had to be returned to the FIA in the event of rain impacting testing.
While there is no return to teams receiving a completely free set of tires, a change to the regulations now states that if a practice session is declared wet, a set of intermediate tires must be returned before qualifying.
A new article 30.5 g) specifies: “Among the five (5) sets of intermediate tires allocated to each driver under article 30.2a)ii), if P1, P2 or P3 is declared wet, one (1) set of intermediate tires must be returned electronically no later than two (2) hours after the end of P3.
While this regulation does not go so far as to mean that teams have nothing to lose by participating in a wet test session, it does at least minimize the downside of any additional races impacting the rest of the week. -end.
