2015 F1 sporting and technical regulations announced

The FIA World Motor Sport Council met in Doha, Qatar today and ratified various rule changes that emerged from the recent meeting of the F1 Commission.

As expected double points are gone and the plan for standing restarts after safety cars has been abandoned. The virtual safety car, trialled in practice sessions at the end of the season, has been given the go-ahead.

As was the case in Suzuka this year when a race is suspended the cars will come into the pit lane rather than stop on the grid, which will make it less time consuming.

When lapped cars are released after a safety car period race control will not wait for them to rejoin the back of the pack, which should speed up resumptions.

Grid penalties for taking extra power unit elements will no longer be carried over to the next race, but any positions not used up will be turned into penalties at that event, as happened with Romain Grosjean in Abu Dhabi.

The F1 super licence rules have been adjusted for 2016 to include a minimum age of 18, while Jean Todt also confirmed that the next meeting of the F1 Strategy Group will address costs as well as the bigger picture of improving the show/

The full list of decisions is as follows:

Points: Points for both titles will no longer be doubled for the final Event of the Championship.

Standing Restarts: After consultation with the Teams who raised a number of safety concerns, Articles 42.7 and 42.8 on standing restarts have been rescinded.

Virtual Safety Car (VSC): Following tests of the VSC system at the final Events of 2014, the introduction of the system has been approved for 2015. The VSC procedure may be initiated to neutralise a race upon the order of the clerk of the course. It will normally be used when double waved yellow flags are needed on any section of track and competitors or officials may be in danger, but the circumstances are not such as to warrant use of the safety car itself. The full text of the article is available in Annex I.

Suspending a race: When a race is suspended, the pit exit will be closed and all cars must now proceed slowly into the pit lane, not the starting grid. The first car to arrive in the pit lane should proceed directly to the pit exit staying in the fast lane, all the other cars should form up in a line behind the first car. 

Team personnel or equipment on grid: If any team personnel or team equipment remain on the grid after the 15 second signal has been shown the driver of the car concerned must start the race from the pit lane. A ten second stop-and-go penalty will be imposed on any driver who fails to do this.

Power Unit Penalties: The replacement of a complete power unit will no longer result in a penalty, instead as specified in the current regulations, penalties will be applied cumulatively for individual components of the power unit.

If a grid place penalty is imposed, and the driver’s grid position is such that the full penalty cannot be applied, the remainder of the penalty will be applied in the form of a time penalty during the race (not at the next race as was previously the case) according to the following scale :

- 1 to 5 grid places untaken: A penalty under Article 16.3(a) will be applied.

- 6 to 10 grid places untaken: A penalty under Article 16.3(b) will be applied.

- 11 to 20 grid places untaken: A penalty under Article 16.3(c) will be applied.

- More than 20 grid places untaken: A penalty under Article 16.3(d) will be applied.

Time Penalties: In addition to the existing five-second penalty (Article 16.3a), a new ten-second penalty (Article 16.3b) will also be introduced, to be applied in the same manner.

Unsafe Release: If a car is deemed to have been released in an unsafe condition during a race a ten second stop-and-go penalty will be imposed on the driver concerned. An additional penalty will be imposed on any driver who, in the opinion of the stewards, continues to drive a car knowing it to have been released in an unsafe condition.

Qualifying Procedure: The qualifying procedure was clarified: for cases when 24 cars are eligible seven will be excluded after Q1 and Q2, if 22 cars are eligible six cars will be excluded after Q1 and Q2, and so on if fewer cars are eligible.

Safety Car, lapped cars: Once the last lapped car has passed the leader the safety car will return to the pits at the end of the following lap, the race director will no longer have to wait for all the lapped cars to reach the back of the pack behind the safety car.

2015 F1 TECHNICAL REGULATIONS

- The weight of the car, without fuel, must not be less than 702kg at all times during the Event (up from 701kg).

- Changes have been made to the rules governing Wind Tunnel Testing and with regard to the aerodynamic reporting periods for 2015 and 2016. 

- Any suspension system fitted to the front wheels must be so arranged that its response results only from changes in load applied to the front wheels.

- Any suspension system fitted to the rear wheels must be so arranged that its response results only from changes in load applied to the rear wheels.

- The Zylon anti-intrusion panels on both sides of the survival cell have been extended upwards to the rim of the cockpit and alongside the pilot’s head.

NEXT MEETING OF THE STRATEGY GROUP

The FIA President confirmed that the next meeting of the Strategy Group would take place on 18 December, and would focus reducing costs, improving the show, making cars quicker and more difficult to drive, and reviewing the technical and sporting regulations, with the aim of simplifying the rules where possible.

FIA Formula One