The FIA shared F1 Commission details regarding sprint format tweaks, tyre blanket/usage, driver cooling and more.
The F1 Commission met for the final time in the 2023 season ahead of the Abu Dhabi GP weekend to discuss multiple points regarding 2024 and beyond. The biggest topic of discussion was about sprint weekends and further tweaks to it.
The call is to make it separate to the normal weekend especially in terms of the timing and parc ferme regulations. The changes are being said after disqualification of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc as the sprint weekend regs caught them out immensely.
A full calendar and tweaks will be published at later on. Looking at the tyres, the FIA will retain the current qualifying format with 13 sets of tyres after trialing an ATA format to use a specific compound in sessions to lessen the number of tyres handed overall.
The tyre blanket ban will not happen in 2025 either with the decision deferred to July 2024, as Pirelli together with the teams will continue with the spray reduction testing. After the happenings in Qatar GP, there has been a provision made for better driver cooling.
They are adding a ‘scoop’ which will help in driving cooling as further tests will continue to find the best solution. Additionally, there has been tweaks to Sporting, Technical and Financial regulations as 2026 car development can begin before start of 2025.
Here’s what the FIA stated in a meeting chaired by Nikolas Tombazis and Stefano Domenicali –
2024 Sprint Format: The Commission gave overall support for an update to the Sprint Format for 2024 to further rationalise the weekend by separating Sprint activities from those for the Grand Prix. The final calendar for the 2024 Sprint events will be published in the coming weeks. The Sporting Advisory Committee will work through specific details, particularly regarding timing and parc fermé regulations, for a final proposal to be presented to the F1 Commission for the first meeting of 2024.
Wet Weather Package / Spray-reduction tests: The Commission members acknowledged the importance of this project, and a further test will take place in spring of 2024. This test will use a cover design that completely envelopes the tyre, in order to establish a proof of concept for the wheel cover with these cars and help define the future direction of the project.
Tyre strategy: The Commission agreed that the direction for development for future tyres should be focused on reducing issues of overheating and improving the raceability of the tyres, and therefore the decision was taken to keep tyre blankets for 2025 and remove the relevant appendices to the Sporting and Technical Regulations that required a further decision to be taken in July 2024. Following the trial of an Alternative Tyre Allocation at two events this season, the Commission elected to stay with the standard 13 sets of dry tyres for the 2024 season, with the relevant sections of the Regulations regarding ATA to be removed.
Driver cooling: Following the extreme temperatures experienced during the 2023 FIA Formula 1 Qatar Grand Prix, the Commission has approved updates to the Technical Regulations to permit a scoop to increase driver cooling to be fitted to the car. Additional analysis is being carried out for supplementary cooling options for more extreme conditions.
Updates to the Technical and Sporting Regulations: A safety-related update to the Technical Regulations was approved, mitigating the danger created by metallic components in the floor, should they become detached, by limiting their mass and number. Other minor updates to the 2024 Technical and Sporting Regulations were approved by the Commission.
Financial Regulations – Sustainability Initiative Costs: The Commission approved further refinements regarding the exclusion of Sustainability Initiative Costs from the Financial Regulations. This specifically refers to costs that are attributable to defining and identifying sustainability objectives and the strategy envisaged to achieve these objectives, and the monitoring, collation and production of reports to measure progress against carbon footprint and emissions targets and overall ESG sustainability objectives.
Development of the 2026 car: The Commission agreed that no work may be carried out on the development of a car for the 2026 season before the start of 2025.
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