FIA Open to Review of New Super Licence System

The FIA has revealed that it may be open to a  future review of the new rules for a Super Licence in the wake of the latest controversy about F1 driving qualification standards.

Drivers will be required to conform to minimum age and racing experiences requirements as well as accumulating at least 40 points from various designated race series but the proposed system has resulted in concerns that many talented and experienced drivers will be barred from racing at the top level.

Following lobbying from Renault and significant media and public comment, the FIA looks set to ease its stance on the rigidity of the new rules due to be introduced for the 2016 season.

"We have defined a robust framework for the conditions of qualifications," an FIA spokesman told Autosport.

"With regards to the points system itself, it is effectively only natural that some adjustments may be done year-on-year."

Renault, one of the biggest backers of junior single seater racing for almost half a century, was upset that its Formula Renault 3.5 category was graded lower than not just GP2 and the yet to be created Formula 2 series but also the FIA's Formula 3 European Championship, from which Max Verstappen graduated to an F1 drive.

The French manufacturer requested a meeting with the FIA and the latest comments suggest the federation may be open to revisions, though it also suggested that the recently announced system is not wholly defined by a championship's sporting credentials.

"The criteria with which the points system has been defined are not only driven by the relative sporting performance of the various championships," added the FIA spokesman.

"There are other considerations that we, as the rule maker, need to include as well. We are of course listening to Renault's feedback or any other party involved.

"And, as explained before, based on our experience with the new Super Licence structure, we might in the future adjust the points system."

As the system stands, drivers in the high profile world of DTM will not be able to accumulate any Super Licence points in the series.

In recent years Paul Di Resta used his performances in DTM as a springboard to Formula One but as it stands the plan place the grand prix future of recently announced Mercedes F1 test driver and DTM regular Pascal Wehrlein on stony ground.

Unless he changes his racing plans for 2015 to include a shot at the GP2 title, he will not qualify for a Super Licence in 2016, a situation that Williams F1 tester and DTM refugee Susie Wolff also finds herself in.

The FIA have said that in exceptional circumstances they can refer a request for a superlicence to the World Motor Sports Council but JAonF1 understands that the governing body views this as an option of last resort.

Speaking specifically about Wehrlein and Wolff the FIA spokesman said: "They would not currently qualify for a 2016 full Super Licence."

The FIA have stated that the system is designed to streamline the staircase to F1 and it seems likely that prospective grand prix drivers will gravitate towards the top ranked series in seasons to come.

While that adjustment is made, many drivers' careers look set to be affected. The new Super Licence points system is also sure to maker an impact on teams and race series left out of, or maginalised by, the FIA's selection of qualifying championships.