FIA adjusts regulations after 'dangerous' Red Bull action in 2024
F1 News
- Kimberley Hoefnagel
The FIA has changed two regulations ahead of the Australian Grand Prix. For instance, from next season, the race director may demand that a car be pulled over in case of too severe damage, and from now on drivers are always obliged to participate in the formation lap.
The first regulation to be amended by the FIA concerns Article 26.10. In the past, this stated that the race director could only order a team to tell their car to pull over if there was a serious mechanical problem. But as of the Australian Grand Prix, the race director is already allowed to do so as soon as he can determine that the car has suffered too much damage.
This change is presumably related to Sergio Pérez's incident in last year's Canadian Grand Prix. The Mexican's car was badly damaged consequence of a crash, which made it quite clear that he would not be able to continue. However, in an attempt to save teammate Max Verstappen from a safety car, he limped back to the pits, despite of all the dangers involved.
The regulations now state: "Any driver whose car has significant and obvious damage to a structural component which results in it being in a condition presenting an immediate risk of endangering the driver or others, or whose car has a significant failure or fault which means it cannot reasonably return to the pitlane without unnecessarily impeding another competitor or otherwise hindering the competition, must leave the track as soon as it is safe to do so.
“At the sole discretion of the race director, should a car be deemed to have such significant and obvious damage to a structural component, or such significant failure or fault, the competitor may be instructed that the car must leave the track as soon as it is safe to do so.”
Loopholes
Article 43.8 has also been addressed. This states that from now on, all drivers must participate in the formation lap, including those who have to start from the pit lane. According to Autosport, the rule has been amended to close existing loopholes. Last year, drivers who had to start from the pit lane could choose to stay in their place during an extra formation lap behind the safety car. Not only did this give those drivers an extra lap of fuel, it could even gain them positions if another driver decided to enter the pits. From 2025, however, that will no longer apply.
This article was written in collaboration with Norberto Mujica.
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