The FIA has published updated rules for the 2020 F1 season governing the organisation of its ‘closed events’.
The latest rules include changes intended to reduce the number of personnel on the grid and govern tyre allocations during the heavily revised calendar.A maximum of 40 personnel from each team will be permitted on the grid once the pit lane exit opens before the start of a race. The must begin to leave the grid when the five-minute board is shown, two minutes earlier than before.
Once the three-minute board is shown they may have no more than 16 personnel on the grid. Failure to comply with these rules can result in drivers receiving time penalties.
The changes will give team members more time to clear the grid without crowding closely together.
Similar changes will apply in the event of races being stopped and restarted. The race director may abort the start up to seven minutes before the formation lap is due to begin if rain begins to fall, instead of the previous five minutes.
Among the other changes are a slight loosening of the curfew on F1 team personnel’s activities. The restriction period during which team members who work on the cars are not allowed in the paddock has been reduced from nine hours to eight.
Due to the logistical challenges arising from the reorganisation of the calendar, teams will no longer select how many tyre sets each driver uses each weekend. The rules state eight sets of soft, three medium and two hard will be provided for each team’s car.
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Jere (@jerejj)
25th June 2020, 13:21
So a driver would get penalized for the mechanics not leaving the grid early enough, LOL. I wonder what type of penalty would it be?
JohnH (@johnrkh)
25th June 2020, 13:30
@jerejj I would think the team would be fined.
Jamie B
25th June 2020, 13:44
@jerejj @johnrkh it literally says it in the article.
JohnH (@johnrkh)
25th June 2020, 22:10
@Jamie B Yeah that’s what I meant :)
Chaitanya
25th June 2020, 13:51
Standard 5sec penalty is most likely outcome for this offence.
ColdFly (@)
25th June 2020, 14:07
It’s a team sport, which you might have forgotten as it has been so long :P
The big advantage is that we won’t have the local celebs on the grid anymore. Even this crisis has a silver lining.
Jere (@jerejj)
25th June 2020, 15:42
@coldfly Indeed, LOL. No celebs for the time being.
Mashiat (@mashiat)
25th June 2020, 16:34
@jerejj Fernando Alonso got a 5-second time penalty for his mechanics not leaving the grid early enough in the 2014 Belgian GP. Although the situation wouldn’t exactly be the same, it’s not exactly something new for a driver to receive a penalty based on the actions of the mechanics.
Jere (@jerejj)
25th June 2020, 18:23
@mashiat I didn’t remember that. I had forgotten he got a 5-second time penalty for this type of thing in the 2014 event.
Chaitanya
25th June 2020, 18:24
Penalty was given for working on car after 5min race start warning was issued.
Jamie B
25th June 2020, 21:33
I’m honestly shocked to hear that was 6 years ago… In my head it’s quite recent
anon
25th June 2020, 22:51
@jerejj rules requiring the mechanics to leave the grid before a certain time are fairly old – the requirement to leave the grid before the 15 second marker came about in the early 1980s after a mechanic (Dave Luckett) was run over in the 1981 Belgian GP, resulting in him being badly injured (but fortunately not killed).
The exact timing is slightly different – the 3 minute marker is when the teams had to have the tyres fitted by – but the principal is not entirely new. There are examples of teams receiving penalties before then – I believe Ralf Schumacher had a stop and go penalty at the 2001 Belgian GP because his mechanics were still on the grid at the 15 second marker – so there are precedents for penalties.
@HoHum (@hohum)
25th June 2020, 14:07
Wow that’s really brutal, how do they expect only 40 people to start a car ?
bob (@riptide)
25th June 2020, 14:15
Each team, not car.
ColdFly (@)
25th June 2020, 14:35
sarcasm, not serious.
bob (@riptide)
25th June 2020, 15:58
Really? What gave it away, the ‘start a car’ bit? Or maybe you think the sarcasm doesn’t work with the actual number?
@HoHum (@hohum)
26th June 2020, 0:40
@riptide, My error, only 20 persons to start a car sounds twice as hard, how do they do it?
Matteo (@m-bagattini)
25th June 2020, 14:19
@hohum I made the same mistake :D
spoutnik (@spoutnik)
25th June 2020, 23:46
Excellent!
Pironi the Provocateur (@pironitheprovocateur)
25th June 2020, 15:17
Weren’t they talking about no grid procedures this year, with the cars leaving the garage into the warm-up lap? It would be far more reasonable than this, “only 40 people per team” sounds farcical.
StephenH
25th June 2020, 16:22
That makes sense to me.
Robert
25th June 2020, 15:29
The 8-3-2 tire selection could have quite an impact I think, considering how often in the past we have seen some teams choosing only to bring one hard tire and pretty much not use it at all. In a case like that, this either forces them to use the hard at some point, or effectively removes one useful set from the allocation.
On another note, does the 40 and 16 team personnel on the grid include the two drivers? I’m thinking not, but it’s not fully clear. Would again make a noticeable difference with 7 or 8 people per car.
us-brian (@us-brian)
25th June 2020, 15:42
So 20 per car. That’s still 400 team staff on the grid. But when you look at it more closely, with Red Bull for example You have a Christian Horner, Helmut Marko, Adrian Newey, Technical Director Pierre Wache’ and driver physio (x2?). So that means there are 34 left for both cars or 17 per car. That’s still a lot of people. I am sure they could reduce the number of staff on the grid even further. Since I am sure there are not going to be any VIP’s on the grid and I am sure the amount of Media that is allowed is reduced there shouldn’t be a reason for F1 to make the Grid a huge deal anymore.
I know SKY want’s to still have a big production but I can’t see them huddling so close together anymore. Plus interviews will be weird with those microphones with the long extension pole to keep distance.
bob (@riptide)
25th June 2020, 16:06
By the time they go to the grid at the first race most of Europe will be down to a 1 metre separation between people. As long as they are shoulder to shoulder and not face on it’ll probably one of the safer places to be where numbers are allowed to congregate.
DB-C90 (@dbradock)
26th June 2020, 2:07
At the rate cases seem to be rising again, I’m expecting some restrictions to be tightened within the next couple of weeks or so.
StephenH
25th June 2020, 16:21
I’d have thought it would have been much safer to have bypassed the ‘dummy grid’ altogether and have the cars go from thier garages in grid order straight onto the formation lap, or even straight out of the garage for couple of laps behind the safety car to get themselves in order before lining up for the lights.
DAllein (@)
25th June 2020, 16:25
*facepalm*
I think I will smash my face into bloody pulp, I am hitting it too often lately.
The stupidity of F1’s geniuses has really switched a gear.
John H (@john-h)
25th June 2020, 18:49
40!
I don’t understand. I can think of perhaps 5 or 6 people per car that are really necessary.
Agree with StephenH above also, why not just start them all from the pits and then form on the grid? Bizarre.
anon
26th June 2020, 8:35
@john-h doesn’t that really just shift the problem from the grid to the pit box instead?