The FIA’s World Motor Sport Council has approved a series of minor regulation changes for the 2024 Formula 1 season and beyond.
After Pirelli were awarded the right to remain as Formula 1’s tyre supplier following the Qatar Grand Prix, the council formally reappointed the Italian tyre manufacturer as the supplier for the Formula 1, F2 and F3 championships for 2025, 2026 and 2027.The council approved a change to the F1’s sporting regulations to increase the maximum number of tyre testing days in a season from 35 to 40. This refers to tyre testing days conducted privately with individual teams throughout the season as opposed to pre-season testing.
In addition, the FIA has allocated four days of testing towards research and development for reducing spray produced by current cars in wet weather conditions. The governing body has tested a wheel pod design intended to be fitted during rain-hit races to reduce spray.
Driver visibility in wet races has been a significant concern in recent years and was heightened by the death of Formula Regional European racer Dilano van ‘t Hoff in a crash at Spa-Francorchamps in early July.
In remarks to the council at the meeting, FIA president Mohammed ben Sulayem also reaffirmed the governing body’s support for Andretti’s bid to join Formula 1.
“We have made considerable progress in the past few months in efforts to improve our sport and support our members,” Ben Sulayem said. “As part of our knowledge-led approach, we have launched two FIA university programmes, the motorsport leadership and management and FIA university certificate in modern sport governance.
“We have recently announced the approval of Andretti Formula Racing’s application following a rigorous due diligence process. I would like to thank the FIA team members for their support in this process and I congratulate them for what they did. We firmly believe we are doing what is best for the long-term sustainability of the sport.”
The governing body’s motorsport council met at the organisation’s offices in Geneva.
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Nick T.
19th October 2023, 19:07
Niels “Bubblewrap” Wittich throws the red flag when he farts himself awake like my dog. He’ll continue to throw safety cars and red flags even with improved visibility.
RandomMallard
19th October 2023, 19:27
Of the races red-flagged due to weather-related reasons in recent years, my understanding is Wittich has only been in race control for one of them, Zandvoort this season, which was probably the one which made the most sense, considering half the field were on unsuitable tyres and a quarter of the field had gone off at the same corner, including one necessitating a barrier repair. The other red flags due to rain were all in races Freitas was directing.
RandomMallard
19th October 2023, 19:31
For the record, I think F1 does have too many red flags at the moment (there have been the same number of red flags since Monza 2020 than there were be Germany 2001 and Monza 2020), but some of them have been justified, particularly in light of van’t Hoff’s incident, although Wittich hasn’t always been the one throwing them in the rain.
roadrunner (@roadrunner)
19th October 2023, 20:47
The problem is that we have way more safety cars too and I have the feeling they tend to stay out longer.
Red Flags mean more racing laps so I don’t really mind them (as long as the restart is a rolling start of course).
anon
19th October 2023, 21:59
RandomMallard, exactly – it would seem that Nick T. has decided that he hates Wittich so much that he is now blaming him for anything that even mildly upsets him, despite Wittich having nothing to do with most of the things that he’s whining about.
However, I suspect you are likely to fail in your attempt to reason the prejudices out of Nick T., mainly because it was not reason that led to him developing those prejudices in the first place.
Nick T.
20th October 2023, 18:23
What the hell are you on about?
Nick T.
20th October 2023, 18:29
That’s good information to have, but I highly doubt the RD isn’t part of the conversation. But let’s say he isn’t responsible for a single RF, he still throws way too many SCs/VSCs.
MichaelN
19th October 2023, 20:06
The race can only be red flagged when, as per the regulations, ‘the clerk of the course deems circumstances are such that the track cannot be negotiated safely, even behind the safety car, the sprint session or the race will be suspended.’ Indeed, it’s the clerck of the course who signals the deployment of red flags – not the race director.
No doubt the race director has some influence over what is considered raceable by the wider FIA organisation at the track, but it’s not just his call.
Nick T.
20th October 2023, 18:27
It was always Charlie Whiting’s call before. Maybe that’s changed. However, I highly doubt it. It’s highly likely that, while the course clerk may have final say, he is not making those decisions independently.
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19th October 2023, 19:52
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19th October 2023, 20:58
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20th October 2023, 7:07
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Doggy
19th October 2023, 19:53
So basically they approved a severe increase on sprint races without any major hesitation.
However, for this, that impacts safety and fluent racing, they had to studied for that long and approve a mild increase In testing.
Yes…ok.. that makes sense…sure..
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
19th October 2023, 21:10
I like this and I hope they find a solution that allows to race again in heavier rain conditions, we lost quite a few potentially great races lately cause of visibility\extra caution: spa 2021, zandvoort 2023 wet instead of intermediate ending, suzuka 2022 wet instead of intermediate race without 2h interruption just for some examples.
They could’ve also started much earlier in the spa 2023 quali\sprint sessions if not for the constant delaying looking for better visibility.
BasCB (@bascb)
20th October 2023, 7:10
Yeah, it is pretty clear that they need a lot more information/feedback to see what goes on with the tyres and modern F1 cars with rain tyres to get a grip on it and improve.
SteveP
20th October 2023, 9:14
Is just my memory playing tricks, or do we seem to have more of a problem with spray these days?
Even pre-ground effect.
Is it the tyres that lift more water, or is it that there are more incidences of heavier rain?
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
20th October 2023, 13:45
The tyres lift more water and (I think) in a narrower direction. There may be more instances of heavier rain as well, but I think it’s the efficiency of the tyres that’s doing the heavy lifting here.