The biggest rules change in a generation is about to hit Formula One.
The new engine formula has attracted widespread debate since it was agreed over two-and-a-half years ago. Now we are finally about to see what F1’s new power units can do.
But the rules changes don’t stop there. There are other innovations in the technical rules and some important new changes regarding driver penalties, safety – and of course the deeply controversial double points plan.
Here’s a quick guide to all of the most significant rules changes for the new season.
Sporting rules
Penalty points
Drivers who break the rules may now be given penalty points on their superlicence by the race stewards. If a driver reaches a total of 12 points they will be banned for one race, after which their 12 points are deducted and they can return. Otherwise any points incurred expire after 12 months.
Five-second penalties
The stewards may now impose five-second time penalties on drivers. These are served during their pit stops, during which time the mechanics may not touch the driver’s car. If a driver does not make a further pit stop after the penalty is issued then five seconds are added to their race time instead.
This rule is exempt from the requirement that drivers must serve penalties within three laps of them being issued.
Engine change penalties
Each driver may only use five complete power units throughout the 19 race weekends. Last year they were allowed to use eight engines. Therefore this year each power unit will do three or four races, whereas last year they were doing two or three. Unlike gearboxes they do not have to be used in consecutive events.
The power units are defined as six separate elements – the internal combustion engine (ICE), the motor generator unit-kinetic (MGU-K), the motor generator unit-heat (MGU-H), the energy store (ES), turbocharger (TC) and control electronics (CE). Penalties are applied once a driver uses more than five of any of these as follows:
| A sixth element is used for the first time | Ten-place grid drop |
| A sixth of any remaining element is used for the first time | Five-place grid drop |
| A seventh element is used for the first time | Ten-place grid drop |
| A seventh of any remaining element is used for the first time | Five-place grid drop |
| etc… | |
| A complete power unit is replace | Pit-lane start |
If a driver qualifies low enough that they cannot be moved back all of the places assigned by a grid drop, the remainder of the penalty will carry over to the next race, but not any further races.
Other penalties
Drivers may now receive grid drops if they are released from the pits in an unsafe fashion during practice (which includes qualifying). Unsafe releases during the race can be punished by the usual range of penalties including the new five-second penalty, or by a grid drop at the next race if the driver retires.
In a minor change, teams may not appeal penalties issued during the final three laps of a race (previously five).
Driving standards
The rules regarding drivers going off-track and gaining an advantage have been revised. They now state a driver may not gain a “lasting” advantage by going off the track. They also allow for the race director to permit a driver to relinquish any advantage they may have gained by going off the track.
Double points
In a move which has been widely criticised, double points will be awarded for the final race of the year:
| Round | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1-18 | 25 | 18 | 15 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
| 19 | 50 | 36 | 30 | 24 | 20 | 16 | 12 | 8 | 4 | 2 |
Pole position trophy
A special award will be given to the driver who sets the most pole positions during the season. If two or more drivers have the same number of poles the number of seconds will be used as a tie-breaker, and so on.
Practice
Teams may now use up to four drivers during first and season practice (previously two).
Permanent numbers
Drivers have been given a choice of which number their wish to use for the duration of their career. The world champion is the only driver who can use the number one, if they choose to. Their choice of number must be displayed on their crash helmet.
Because of this change, a previous rule stating that drivers who did not set a time in qualifying could be assigned grid positions based on their car number has been scrapped. They will now be arranged by the order they occupied in previous qualifying sessions or final practice.
Testing and development
Teams’ running outside of race weekends is now defined in four different ways by the regulations: Testing of Current Cars (TCC), Testing of Previous Cars (TPC), Testing of Historic Cars and Promotional Events.
Eight in-season test days have been permitted (there were none last year), of which each team must give one over to the official tyre supplier for tyre testing.
During tests cars being driven by drivers who do not have superlicences must use green rear lights instead of red ones.
The two-week August factory shut-down which teams have observed in previous seasons is now part of the regulations. The extent of wind tunnel and CFD testing has also been restricted.
Safety
Team personnel who work on cars during pit stops are required to wear “head protection”.
Tyres
Each driver now has an extra set of the “prime” specification tyre (12 for the weekend instead of 11) which may only be used during the first 30 minutes of the first practice session and returned before the second practice session.
Unanimous agreement among the teams is no longer required to permit a change in tyre specification during the season. The agreement of 70% of teams is needed (i.e. at least eight of the current eleven).
Gearboxes
Drivers must use the same gearboxes for six consecutive races (up from five last year). The rules on which gearbox parts teams may replace have been temporarily relaxed for 2014 only.
Fuel
Each driver may only use 100kg of fuel “from the time at which the signal to start the race is given to the time each car crosses the line after the end-of-race signal has been given”.
Weight checks
Drivers may be stopped to have their cars weighed during the first three practice sessions as well as during Q1 ad Q2.
Anyone who fails to go to the weigh bridge when indicated to do so will receive a reprimand if the car is immediately brought to the weigh bridge. If the team fails to do so the driver will be required to start the race from the back of the grid.
Curfew
Teams are allowed to break the curfew restrictions on working on their cars six times per year. This is up from two last year, but the change is intended for this season only.
Post-race celebrations
Drivers are now allowed to perform ‘post-race celebrations’ providing they are done so without endangering anyone, do not infringe the legality of the car and do not hold up the podium ceremony.
Starting and stopping
Drivers exiting or passing through the pits in the 30 minute period before the start of the race must do so “at a constant speed and with constant throttle”, i.e. not performing any burn-outs.
An addition to the rules on stopping a car during a race states: “Under no circumstances may a driver stop his car on the track without justifiable reason.”
Update: Qualifying
Shortly after this article was published the FIA confirmed a late change to the qualifying rules. Drivers who reach Q3 will now have to start the race on the tyres they used in Q2.
Full details here:
Technical rules
The huge changes to the technical rules have been covered here previously during the two-year build-up to their introduction. The changes to the cars are summarised below and illustrated in the video above.
- Engines must now be 1.6-litre V6s (limited to 15,000rpm) with a single turbocharger
- Electrical energy can be harvested under braking (MGU-K) and through the heat from the turbocharger (MGU-H)
- This energy is stored in a battery (called the energy store) and drivers can use 2MJ per lap (up from 0.4MJ last year), which provides 30 second’s worth of additional power per lap
- Engines may not exceed a fuel consumption rate of 100kg per hour
- Engines must have a single exhaust, the exit of which has been defined at a position under the rear wing designed to prevent teams gaining a performance advantage by blowing hot air into the diffuser
- Gearboxes now have eight gears, up from seven. The ratios must be fixed at the start of the season, but for this first year under the new rules teams will be allowed to change them once during the year.
- Teams may now run brake-by-wire systems to help drivers cope with the complex demands on the brakes systems due to the new energy recovery systems
- The minimum weight has increased from 642kg to 691kg, largely because of the increased weight of the new engines
- The front wing has been reduced in width from 1800mm to 1650mm
- The maximum height of noses has been lowered, a consequence of which has been the unusual design of the front of this year’s cars
- The gap in the rear wing formed when DRS is activated has been widened to 65mm. Rather than increasing the overall power of DRS this is expected to make up for the anticipated weakening in its power due to the reduced downforce of this year’s cars
- The lower part of the rear wing, known as the ‘beam wing’ has been banned
Images © Pirelli/LAT, Williams/LAT, Force India, F1 Fanatic, Lotus/LAT, Red Bull/Getty
The Blade Runner (@)
12th March 2014, 10:04
All of this is just teasing me… Bring on Sunday (and Friday and Saturday)!!!
Hacked By @bboscat (@mat-k)
12th March 2014, 10:29
dont you mean tomorrow morning!!!! 2am gmt, is first practice!
The Blade Runner (@)
12th March 2014, 10:54
Isn’t FP1 on Friday at 1.30am GMT?
SeaHorse (@seahorse)
12th March 2014, 11:10
You are right @thebladerunner
The timings are:
Friday
FP1: 12:30 Local | 01:30 GMT
FP2: 16:30 Local | 05:30 GMT
Saturday
FP3: 14:00 Local | 03:00 GMT
Qua: 17:00 Local | 06:00 GMT
Sunday
Race: 17:00 Local | 06:00 GMT
@HoHum (@hohum)
12th March 2014, 21:35
Hi all in USA and @keithcollantine, just rolled my TV guide over the next 30 hours and I can confirm NBC-SP will be broadcasting practice at 9.30pm EDST, and again hopefully 2nd practice after midnight, it’s all F1 from Thur.8.30pm till around 3am Friday. Happy viewing!
W-K (@w-k)
12th March 2014, 11:50
You can always check session times at http://www.formula1.com/default.html
On the right, about one “page down”, there is a [convert time] button so you can see correct time in your part of the world.
OneBHK (@onebhk)
12th March 2014, 18:10
All timings should be available on F1F. On that topic, has anyone used the new F1 app, it looks slick. Also i have heard they have reduced the price, it would now cost some 8 quids to get live updates.
ECWDanSelby (@ecwdanselby)
12th March 2014, 10:14
All looks hugely exciting!
One thing that really bothered me was the ‘we can have more aggressive DRS attacks’.
Right, like they weren’t ‘aggressive’ enough… Worrying.
Sure we’ll continue to see mile long DRS zones, too, despite being ‘re-evaluated’ every year.
Robbie (@robbie)
12th March 2014, 13:27
I must have read your mind. You’ve already said exactly what I was thinking after hearing that comment about aggressive DRS attacks.
OneBHK (@onebhk)
12th March 2014, 18:22
DRS is here to stay, advise to make friends with it…
Ross
12th March 2014, 10:27
Everytime I see the RB10 I like it more. Personally can’t stand the Merc… I also just want it to be Sunday already.
Hacked By @bboscat (@mat-k)
12th March 2014, 10:31
there almost the same car bar the nose.
front wings are going to be around about the same as last year, side post are a standard arangment down the grid, and then the bottle necking is almost identical. then the rear wing are almost bang on apart from the end plates and cooling vents out the back,
so really its just the nose, which i think will give a good gp2 feeling this year. were we dont have run away cheating redbulls
Ross
12th March 2014, 23:53
In the way that the whole field has 4 wheels each, a front and rear wing and a little helmet in the middle, then yes they all look exactly the same.
Cheats are usually reprimanded.
OneBHK (@onebhk)
12th March 2014, 18:23
RB10 is the best looking car out there no doubt, but Merc supporters are not going to agree… It baffles me as to how the Merc looks good…
Fsoud (@udm7)
12th March 2014, 10:30
Extra tyres for…30 minutes?
Even when running out of tyres is no cause for worry, half the teams (Ferrari,RB, Mercedes those guys at the top) Dont even emerge. Some dont do a lap.
With Relaibility being a big issue, do they expect teams to cut down on their opening lap checks on fridays to save tyres? Wasted rubber.
W-K (@w-k)
12th March 2014, 11:56
The extra tyres are to get the top teams to do their part in track cleaning.
This year until RBR and Lotus get sorted, they will have to do their running on the Fridays, as they cannot chance running long periods on Sat in FP3, because there isn’t enough time before Qualifying to fix the broken cars.
mik
12th March 2014, 10:34
bravo computer department excellent CGi really stunning renders on those cars and the new rules very well explained.
OneBHK (@onebhk)
12th March 2014, 18:11
You mean the credit should go to the Redbull graphic team. Personally i felt it was the best explanation of the changes in 2014 thus far….
Verstappen GP (@verstappengp)
12th March 2014, 11:33
What is the green light on the back for? I thought it was just a red light for when it rains.
W-K (@w-k)
12th March 2014, 11:59
In free practice the red light is used to signify “slow running”. That is usually a constant speed run for the engineers and analysts to calibrate their readings.
pastaman (@)
12th March 2014, 12:12
Try reading the article right next to the picture…
OneBHK (@onebhk)
12th March 2014, 18:12
The green light would have to be on during testing when a driver who does not hold a superlicense is driving the car…
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
12th March 2014, 18:37
@verstappengp It says in the article. In the text right next to the picture.
W-K (@w-k)
12th March 2014, 11:45
How is the fuel usage to be monitored?
I assume that it implies that the car has to be weighed prior to the start of the race, if not how do they know how much fuel is in the car at the start.
Juzh (@juzh)
12th March 2014, 12:13
They have an FIA approved sensor onboard which sends live information on fuel usage to the teams and fia. FIA will know instantly if a car has gone above 100kg used. (100 kg is only for the race itself, while recon laps and parade lap is not counted into this number)
@HoHum (@hohum)
12th March 2014, 15:10
pretty sure the cpu will measure it.
OneBHK (@onebhk)
12th March 2014, 18:13
They can carry any amount of fuel, but they cannot use more than 100kg from lights out till they cross the finish line… its monitored by some gizmo through the machine from where fuel flows…
Rastura (@rastura)
12th March 2014, 12:01
Txs for update
Good read
OOliver
12th March 2014, 12:06
The PU or individual component penalties are just way too complicated. Considering how important each individual component is to the performance of the PU, and the fact that they are essentially untested in live conditions, I think these penalties are just too draconian and confusing, besides, a ten place grid drop might be inconsequential compared to having fresh batteries and maximum performance during a race.
@HoHum (@hohum)
12th March 2014, 15:13
I can imagine almost the whole grid being tucked away around the last corner, or more realistically a long line of cars starting from the pitlane.
OneBHK (@onebhk)
12th March 2014, 18:14
What is equally horrifying is the carry forward of the grid drops to the next race if the driver is already at the back… double blow
Dmitry (@albedo)
12th March 2014, 12:11
Don’t see any point in the fixed gear ratios…reliability? reducing costs?
Deej92 (@deej92)
12th March 2014, 13:42
Red Bull have been doing these animated videos for years and this is another brilliant one!
@HoHum (@hohum)
12th March 2014, 15:27
Excellent, but I do wish they would stop talking about recovering energy from the brakes, from deceleration yes, but not from the brakes.
OneBHK (@onebhk)
12th March 2014, 18:14
You have to understand that video is for general public (noobs)
@HoHum (@hohum)
12th March 2014, 18:44
I do understand that, why confuse them with an inaccurate term?
W-K (@w-k)
12th March 2014, 23:36
To be totally pedantic, there is scientifically no term called deceleration, there is only acceleration, a change in velocity, and you can have positive or negative acceleration.
Probably better to say energy recovered during braking.
Tony Martin (@topaz)
12th March 2014, 13:43
Can’t wait, unfortunately can’t go to see it live this year. An F1 party will have to do though. Hoping for a Mercedes win and one of the few races we get to see at a decent time.
vjanik
12th March 2014, 13:48
extra tyres will not mean more running. i reckon this year teams will be more worried about engine life than running out of tyres. i suspect teams to run very little on fridays in the latter parts of the season. 5 engines sounds like a tough challange and given the bad reliability. i hope im wrong but later on in the season there wont be much running in practice. even if you give them unlimited tyres.
@HoHum (@hohum)
12th March 2014, 15:16
The alternative of course is that the teams will want to get out on track and have their breakdown as early possible to give them more time for repairs.
@HoHum (@hohum)
12th March 2014, 15:17
*as…possible
OneBHK (@onebhk)
12th March 2014, 18:15
@hohum I had read somewhere about tyres for running in Q3 … is that rule genuine, can somebody explain it
@HoHum (@hohum)
12th March 2014, 18:47
@onebhk, there was talk, but I am pretty sure @keithcollantine would have included it in this article if it was to be in effect this year, probably got the thumbs down.
@HoHum (@hohum)
12th March 2014, 19:00
@onebhk, within minutes of writing above things have changed, read new article “Q3 changes,,,
bosyber (@bosyber)
12th March 2014, 20:33
@hohum, @honebhk, and I don’t really get them; why would we want the fastest guys from qualy to start on used tyres? Supose the idea is to make sure they can, without influence to their race, go for pole shootout, but really, why hamper the guys that ends up on 5th row by having him start on older tyres than 6th row still?
Oscar (@oscar)
12th March 2014, 14:26
Tougher limitations on engines and gearboxes would have been acceptable with “frozen” engines, but not with the new ones, especially knowing reliability issues will play a major role…
OneBHK (@onebhk)
12th March 2014, 18:17
@oscar I agree, but the engine suppliers always have to option to work on their engine if they feel its a reliability issue… Renault have been doing it with their V8s
Glenn (@glennb)
12th March 2014, 14:41
Thinking back to pre-season testing this year and the amount of engine/transmission/turbo failures, I can’t see 5 engines being enough to get the teams back to europe even. Add to that the excessive longevity expectations of the transmissions and we could possibly see all teams taking penalties very early in the season.
OneBHK (@onebhk)
12th March 2014, 18:18
@glennb You are right. I think FIA is trying to bring too many changes at once. I wouldn’t be surprised to see some of the rules relaxed in the latter part of the year. We already have relaxation as to the fixed gear ratios…
Glenn (@glennb)
13th March 2014, 13:58
and the 107% rule.
Paul (@frankjaeger)
12th March 2014, 15:33
Just what I needed pre-2014 season. Cheers Keith
OneBHK (@onebhk)
12th March 2014, 18:18
@frankjaeger Well done @keithcollantine
mantresx (@mantresx)
12th March 2014, 16:15
That’s a very nice video from Red Bull, something interesting that I noticed is that the Renault engine has the turbo motor/generator on top of the engine, whereas the Mercedes (from the round up video) has it in between the two turbines, go figure which solution is better but is nice to see some variety.
OneBHK (@onebhk)
12th March 2014, 18:19
@mantresx I don’t think that is a true representation of what is inside the RB10, they have their secrets nicely tucked up…
sato113 (@sato113)
12th March 2014, 16:20
Hang on, what about the rule about starting the race on your Q2 tyre? or didn’t that make it through in time?
OneBHK (@onebhk)
12th March 2014, 18:20
@sato113 Good point, I was also wondering about the same..
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
12th March 2014, 18:57
@sato113 @onebhk The FIA has literally just confirmed it, after this article was written. Talk about 11th hour!
FIA confirms Q3 changes to encourage more running
jh1806 (@jh1806)
12th March 2014, 16:20
@keithcollantine
If I recall correctly, if a driver gets banned for hitting 12 penalty points their tally is reset to 5 (or is it 7?) points after their ban, as an incentive to behave better.
OneBHK (@onebhk)
12th March 2014, 18:20
Bye bye Roman…
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
12th March 2014, 18:39
@jh1806 No, all 12 are wiped out – it’s article 4.2 of the Sporting Regulations:
SeaHorse (@seahorse)
12th March 2014, 17:02
There are some positive changes as well as some negative changes (I’m referring to you Double Points) in the rules. Though F1 has brought back in-season testing up to 8 days per team, couldn’t F1 have done much better in the preseason testing? I mean, look at GP2 series where I see each team running both their cars at the same time. A similar provision in F1’s preseason testing obviously would have doubled (theoretically at least) the mileage for each team, resulting in better understanding of the engines and other aspects of the cars, which essentially at the same time would not have increased the costs of each team by much.
Apart from this, my thoughts over few of the changes are:
1. On five-second penalty, it would be interesting to see how the FIA would ensure that the entire five seconds are served without the team working upon the car and how quickly the teams would react after five seconds have elapsed?
2. The engine change penalty says ‘a sixth of any remaining element is used for the first time results in five-place grid drop’. So, imagining that at the 17th round of the season, driver X uses a sixth element of the power unit for the first time and collects a ten place grid penalty and then at the 18th round of the season, the same driver X uses sixth of all the remaining elements of the power unit. Would this cost driver X twenty five place grid penalty (5 place x 5 elements) or would it still be five-place grid penalty?
3. With the FIA awarding double points at the super-bonus-double-points-season-finale-bonanza I am amazed why FIA didn’t consider doubling the penalty system for the same race? I mean awarding ten-second penalty in place of five-second penalty, ten grid drops in place of five grid drops, double the penalty points for each type of offence etc. would have really spiced up the show, wouldn’t it?
Btw, that Red Bull video is really good. Well done Red Bull!
OneBHK (@onebhk)
12th March 2014, 18:21
@seahorse On the five second penalty, I feel many drivers might take a chance of it getting added in their time, depending at what time the penalty is given… But I welcome the options given…
Oscar (@oscar)
13th March 2014, 15:02
I think:
1. Aerial cam+chronometer+Can´t touch this!
2. Yes, since 28.4 c) states that “Penalties will be applied according to the following table and will be cumulative” . In that case, I think a complete power unit will be changed, starting from the pit lane, since getting a 25 place grid penalty would send you to the last spot, and you still will be owing 3 places for the next race(R19-Double points) assuming you did pole. Another example: You qualified P10, start on P22, and you still have to serve a 13 place grid penalty in the last race.
More than ever, reliability will beat performance.
3. Sounds interesting. And I don´t know why, but I guess Crashtor Maldonado wouldn´t be quite happy with that. :p
Prasad P
13th March 2014, 7:18
Sorry, I really didn’t understand following –
“Anyone who fails to go to the weigh bridge when indicated to do so will receive a reprimand if the car is immediately brought to the weigh bridge.”
Statement sounds contradictory.
Juzh (@juzh)
13th March 2014, 12:10
WHY OH WHY is everyone still on the “2 MJ PER LAP” wagon????? This is so completely false it’s starting to irritate me quite a bit. 2MJ per lap is only the limit of what MGU-K can send to ES. Then there’s this thing called, wait for it………. MGU-H, with potentially UNLIMITED supply of power to the MGU-K (or ES). We will actually see more than 4MJ per lap being used in quali laps because of this. I would of expected from a decent site like F1fanatic to be aware of this and provide explanation to users who don’t visit more technical oriented sites.
30 seconds is also a fictional number, made from 120kw max power and 4MJ max energy store limit. It does not take mgu-h into account by any means.
Chad (@chaddy)
13th March 2014, 17:53
Why would anyone serve the 5 seconds in the pits instead of having it added on to end time? Is it just a matter of whether another pit is needed before the race is over? Five seconds in a pit could really be 5.25 seconds, for example, and with a time penalty you will be 5 seconds ahead in the race and so have more control over the race.