The FIA ​​clarified the F1 rules

The FIA ​​made a change to F1’s safety car and redundant rules to address one of the major controversies surrounding last year’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The updated regulations state that “all” cars repeated when restoring a lap during a tie must pass the leader and safety car if deemed safe to do so.

The word “any” originally used in the regulations was the main subject of dispute. It was considered, due to his ambiguity, that he did not specify precisely the range of cars to be copied before competition resumed, when the safety car would be on the right track. Now replaced by the word “all”.

The aforementioned controversy and misunderstanding concerned the end of the 2021 season, when FIA Racing Director Michael Massey ordered, before the safety car race, only those riders who were between leader Lewis Hampton and second-placed Max Verstappen to be repeated.

Drivers following Verstappen have been ordered to stay put, including those who were between the Dutchman and Carlos Sainz III.

After the race resumed, one lap before the finish line, Verstappen used new tires, beat Hamilton, won the race and won the world championship.

In the discussion that followed, the potentially ambiguous meaning of the word “any” was discussed.

To prevent a repeat of the situation at the Abu Dhabi GP, after talks with the FIA ​​teams, the guidelines have been revised.

Article 13-55 now states: If the Course Clerk deems it safe and the “Duplicate cars may now overtake” message is sent to all riders via the official notification system, all cars copied by the Competition Leader will have to overtake the drivers on the same lap of the Leader and the Safety Car.

Among other changes posted just days before the first race of the 2022 season, drivers were told they must now stay in suits for all of their post-race celebrations.

The description is as follows: During the coronation ceremony and post-race interviews, drivers who finished first, second and third must still wear only their coats and buttons down to the neck.

also “All drivers are required to wear their team kits only for the TV interviews and the post-race FIA ​​press conference.”.

Another new rule is as follows: “Drivers are not allowed to interfere in any way with closed park protocols.”.

At last year’s Brazilian Grand Prix, Max Verstappen was fined for touching the rear wing of Mercedes Lewis Hamilton at Park Fermi.

There was also a slight change in the scoring system for jobs taken in shortened races, with 50-75% of the planned distance being scored. The average fourth-place scoring changed from nine to ten points, and the seventh-place scoring changed from five to four points. The switch now looks like this: 19-14-12-10-8-6-4-3-2-1.

Additionally, if competition resumes after the red flag period, teams will now be notified at least one minute in advance whether it is a grid start or a tiered start. Previously, there were no guidelines for this time.