The FIA’s Formula 1 Commission has announced a series of changes for 2024 and indicated more are under consideration.
Changes to the sprint race format, tyre rules and safety precautions for wet and hot conditions were among the points discussed between the FIA, FOM and team representatives on Friday.Further changes are planned to the sprint race format. The series ran six sprint rounds in 2023, the most ever held in a single season since the format was introduced two years earlier.
In a change for 2023, both sprint qualifying and the sprint race were moved to Saturdays, with Friday’s qualifying session setting the grid for Sunday’s grand prix. However, some drivers and teams have criticised the impact of parc ferme regulations, which come into effect after the opening practice session on Fridays, which was blamed for Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc’s disqualifications from the United States Grand Prix after they were found to have suffered excessive wear on their cars’ floors after the grand prix.
Following a meeting of the F1 Commission, the FIA has announced that the sprint round format will be “updated” ahead of next season. The governing body say that sprint weekend schedules will be “rationalised” by better separating sprint sessions from those directly connected to the grand prix – however, no detail about this was provided. The six rounds that will be run to sprint regulations in 2024 will be confirmed following the completion of the current season.
The F1 Commission also highlighted other matters of discussion, including further development in their research into reducing the volume of spray produced by modern ground effect cars in wet conditions. After a test of experimental wheel arches at Silverstone following the British Grand Prix in July, the F1 Commission announced that a further test would be carried out early in 2024 to help inform future development of the FIA’s project to reduce wet weather spray.
The Alternative Tyre Allocation, which was tested at the Hungarian and Italian Grands Prix, will not be carried over into the 2024 regulations. Drivers will therefore continue to receive the standard allocation of 13 sets of dry tyres for every round of the 2024 championship.
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F1’s intention to ban the use of tyre warming blankets has also suffered another setback. A ban was proposed for 2024 but turned down by teams, and the Commission confirmed tyre blankets will be retained for 2025 as well.
Following the intense heat and discomfort drivers experienced during this year’s Qatar Grand Prix which led to may drivers receiving medical attention for potential dehydration, the F1 Commission approved an update to the technical regulations to allow an air scoop to channel more air into the cockpit to be fitted to cars in future. There will also be further analysis carried out to provide more effective cooling solutions for similarly extreme situations in future.
In additional moves for the 2024 season, a technical regulations amendment was approved with a view to limit the size and number of metal components used in the formation of car floors, which are subject to greater punishment under current ground effect regulations than previous generations of F1 cars. In regards to the budget cap, all activities focused on sustainability measures and the reduction of carbon footprint for teams will be excluded from each team’s budget cap.
Looking ahead to the introduction of the new power unit formula in 2026, the commission announced that an agreement was reached that will restrict teams from beginning developmental work on their 2026 cars until the beginning of 2025.
All measured agreed at the meeting must be formally approved by the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council, which will next meet ahead of the FIA’s prize giving gala in Baku in December.
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2023 F1 season
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- First week viewing figures for new Drive to Survive season fall again
- Max who? Drive to Survive season six prefers its favourite faces
- RaceFans’ complete 2023 season review
- The F1 drivers who pulled off the 10 biggest charges through the field in 2023
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
24th November 2023, 12:40
Ferrari are ahead of the game – Sainz installed an air scoop on his car in practice at Vegas!
Jere (@jerejj)
24th November 2023, 12:43
Sprint – Practice/Shootout/Sprint/Qualifying would be an even better order & hopefully, Yas Marina Circuit would be among the six, especially if sprint points get counted separately.
Assuming Red Bull Ring, Interlagos, & Losail remain, I wouldn’t mind if the other two, besides YMC, were Jeddah & Albert Park, for example.
I’m still unkeen towards reserve-grid experimentation.
Tyre blanket ban abandoned – Bunch of sissies still can’t accept the reality that as certain other single-seaters have managed without blankets, so would F1.
Nothing wrong with ATA either & even less so with having 12 or 11 as the standard set amount per driver.
Driver cooling – Overreaction to a one-off case that won’t rearise even in Qatar anymore.
2026 car development ban – Weird restriction.
someone or something
24th November 2023, 14:20
Your comment says a lot more about yourself that it does about those who oppose the tyre blanket ban. Bottom drawer stuff. 👎
SteveP
24th November 2023, 17:01
I suspect that the most reasonable thing to do is hold off on the tyre warmer ban until the teams are familiar with the tyres supplied by the new supplier following the exit of Pirelli.
S
25th November 2023, 8:31
Huh?
Tyres designed and constructed (by any manufacturer) to be pre-heated are always going to be different than tyres that can be used cold.
All F1 needs is a hard cut. Just tell the teams the blankets are banned and here are the new tyres. Deal with them.
The resistance is that the teams don’t want to throw away all the data and knowledge they have on the current tyres and learn something new – that their competitor might just figure out faster and better than they can.
GmP (@gmp)
24th November 2023, 18:07
I would hope Austin will be a sprint race weekend. I have been to Austin five times, including this year, and plan to go next year as well. For me this year sprint weekend was more fun than the normal weekend, more action “that counted”.
Other comment after this year visiting Miami, Austin and Vegas: an F1 only weekend is horrible value. Miami with the Porches was borderline, Austin with three support races and the sprint race was real value for money. For me next year visiting Austin is a go, Miami maybe, but Vegas a hard no.
Liberty should mandate a certain amount of race activity per event. (In my view)
Coventry Climax
24th November 2023, 18:46
How about mandating a simple price/race-viewing ratio? See less racing, pay less and vice versa.
It’s like people complaining about waste, but forget that a simple packaging/contents ratio would make the problem manageable. For most countries, all products are classified into product groups, which makes it a rather simple law making issue. (And mandating bio-degradeable packaging, but that has no conceptual similarity to visiting races.)
Stephen Taylor
24th November 2023, 19:52
COTA doesn’t want a Sprint race again as the Sprint they held this year hurt the Saturday attendance there.
GmP (@gmp)
25th November 2023, 1:23
I read that he said that, but I am surprised by it. The grandstand (turn 12 complex) was more full than I recall from years before. Not completely full as during the Sunday race, I could still move around, but to me it looked more seats filled then other years, before the pandemic, that I was sitting there. But he has real numbers, I have only my memory, I suppose he is right.
Jere (@jerejj)
24th November 2023, 20:20
@gmp Stephen Taylor already pointed out the relevant point mentioned by Bobby Epstein on that weekend, but another factor why I hope COTA reverts to the standard format is the late-ish start time for that session.
PMccarthy_is_a_legend (@pmccarthy_is_a_legend)
24th November 2023, 12:44
I love the Sprint format, one tweak I think it would make it even better is removing the Sprint shoot out and simply run the Sprint race on the reverse order of main race qualifying. The weekend could look like P1 and quali on Friday, P2 and Sprint race on Saturday and the main race on Sunday.
NoelyNoel (@noelynoel)
24th November 2023, 13:21
I really struggle to get behind any suggestion of reverse grids in any form – why would you effectively punish drivers for performing well, or encourage them to perform poorly to gain an advantage in another session? I’ve never seen suggested any format or situation where neither of these are a factor in reverse or rearranged grids.
PMccarthy_is_a_legend (@pmccarthy_is_a_legend)
24th November 2023, 13:55
@noelynoel
That argument that everyone uses about “punishment for good performance”, I think the past two years has shown it doesn’t hold water. It’s a matter of balance, similar to the wind tunnel and CFD allowance regulations based on championship performance.
The second point around “performing poorly on purpose” is even less robust. Remember that quali sets the grid for the main race where the big points are handed over.
And the advantage of a reverse grid is that the Sprint race is guaranteed fun lots of overtaking and it lets drivers sharpen their wheel to wheel battle skills.
Everyone wins.
Slowly people will come around to the idea.
Alan Dove
24th November 2023, 14:09
Slowly people will come round to the idea F1 isn’t essential viewing any more as it descends into worthless gimmicks that fundamentally rot away at the core integrity and historical value that made it worthy of FIA World Championship status.
AlexS
24th November 2023, 14:15
Basically agree with you Alan. Every year more artificial stuff. Today with electronics cars could be deployed in precise positions they were before a safety car or a red flag. But does FIA wants race integrity? of course not.
S
25th November 2023, 8:32
It never was.
lynn-m
24th November 2023, 15:20
@pmccarthy_is_a_legend thing with reverse grids is that while it would likely generate a lot of ‘action’ it would all feel contrived and at the end of the day meaningless.
we wouldn’t be seeing genuine overtaking between cars of similar pace battling for a genuine position but simply the fast cars somewhat easily getting by the slower one’s that they aren’t really fighting.
it’s like that sprint race at interlagos in 2021 with hamilton coming from the back. yes a lot of passing for the stat books that had the reverse grid fans screaming about how amazing it was & proved why reverse grids are a must…. but at the end of the day which one of those ‘overtakes’ was actually that interesting? it was just a lot of passing for the sake of action rather than the sort of great battling & overtaking that’s actually exciting & memorable.
not to mention how sprint race results never feel as worthwhile or earned as those from the standard race.
just look at f2/f3 over the years where there have been drivers who have only ever won the reverse grid races and nobody ever talks about those wins because they won not due to been fastest but because they finished/qualified further down the order.
reverse grid races are nothing more than the most contrived & worst gimmick in the sport which the pinnacle of the sport shouldn’t ever lower itself to adopting!!!!!!!
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
24th November 2023, 16:32
@pmccarthy_is_a_legend I think the incentive to finish last would still be an issue with this format. Take Haas this year for instance. Their race pace is so bad that over a full distance race they have very little chance of scoring points. But starting on pole in a 1/3 distance sprint race would give them a very realistic chance of scoring points. So they, probably amongst others, would certainly rather qualify last for the main race rather than try their best and maybe qualify P12 for the main race, leaving them only starting 8th for the sprint, and unlikely to score points in either.
Billy Rae Flop
24th November 2023, 14:28
Because it’s not the GP it’s a sprint so it has no bearing on the main race. Everyone wants to see the top guys racing each other and this way it would force it, albeit for a much shorter race.
Yes (@come-on-kubica)
24th November 2023, 12:45
Changes sound as pointless as sprint – just give up it’s ok. Why would anyone risk their car in the sprint when there is quali?
Ferdinand
24th November 2023, 16:29
Moreover, what has it to do with the sports performance? It is clearly only for the sake of the show. Worrying stuff that this seems to dominate Liberty’s mind. They seem to lose more and more sight/focus on the sport and are turning it into an entertainment franchise. This eventually will lead to practice session in which celebrities drive the car dressed up as cartoon characters, probably joined by one winner from the audience who has to pay top dollar to have a shot at winning this price.
Craig
24th November 2023, 12:59
Sprint needs binning as it’s fundamentally unfixable and adds nothing to the sport.
If they absolutely must insist on 2 races at an event then rather then the mealymouthed sprint have 2 actual full length races with additional practice sessions (2 on Friday before qualifying and 1 before each race) and your 2 fastest qualifying laps being used to determine the grids. In addition, remove parc ferme conditions after the first race.
You could then use it to cut down the number of events they need to travel to.
Obviously such a format would only be workable at an event with a sparse support race schedule.
Coventry Climax
24th November 2023, 18:53
Yeah! We could have sextuple headers in just two weekends.
You honestly think people will watch all that?
And get a buzz from a special (=infrequent) and exciting (=unique) event?
Miane
24th November 2023, 14:31
Sprint races should be a separated reserve drivers championship with one reserve driver per car each race. For example, Drugovich take part in all 6 races, 3 in place of Alonso and 3 in place of Stroll. They should count points for Constructor championship.
SteveP
24th November 2023, 17:03
Pretty good paraphrasing of what I’ve been saying since the irritation started.
Leksa (@leksa)
24th November 2023, 14:56
So I guess there’s no chance there will be NO sprint races in 2024 :(
What must happen that they will get rid of them?
pastaman
24th November 2023, 15:18
They won’t get rid of them for the same reason they began in the first place. More money.
S
25th November 2023, 8:37
Press that button on your TV remote. All gone.
GT Racer (@gt-racer)
24th November 2023, 15:39
Some people within the F1 paddock are of the opinion that when it comes to the sprint format & especially the running of the sprint race itself that the fans should be consulted.
Liberty however are unwilling to take that route as the data they already have shows that the format has very little fan support & that the various changes been discussed (Reverse grid’s especially) have next to no fan support. Doing any sort of formal survey in which data would need to be published & talked about would just highlight how unpopular the format is.
SteveP
24th November 2023, 17:11
Do you recall the online survey they started, then binned and buried in the deepest, darkest hole they could find when it became apparent how much the fans disliked the sprint idea?
I suspect that they are now at the point that they feel that they have to battle through, somehow, because they can’t deal with the embarrassment of admitting how wrong they were. Of course, if someone deeply involved were to suddenly leave, then they can wait a short while and then point the blame at the leaver.
GmP (@gmp)
24th November 2023, 18:16
Which fans do you want to survey? The people who spend lots of money to go to the track for a long weekend and want to get value for their money by seeing the F1 cars/drivers race for points?
Or the TV or on-line watching fans, who as a group are much larger, but bring less money in for the track venue itself?
In my view fans who visit races should have a biggest voice in such a survey, as they are the poeple who spend their money and who you want to give value so they come back next years.
MichaelN
24th November 2023, 15:47
F1 tyres can’t handle wet weather. They can’t handle a normal temperature cycle like every other series so they remain super sensitive to temperature changes. They mandate high pressures that nobody likes which force specific development directions for suspensions. They can’t manage without using about 50 tyres per car per weekend – for all of about seven hours of driving (yay, sustainability and microplastics!). And on top of all that Pirelli adds their own problems, such as a decade long failed quest to widen the operating window of their product.
And what does F1 do? They double down on all of these. How unfortunate!
Johns
24th November 2023, 16:16
Goodyear and Bridgestone(japan) had the solution years ago. But Pirelli just cant seem to figure out the decade old technology. Just a dumb company culture.
GmP (@gmp)
24th November 2023, 18:18
Nonsense. Pirelli follows mandated requirements. Any other manufacturer would face same if the requirements don’t change.
S
25th November 2023, 8:42
Goodyear and Bridgestone (and Michelin) made tyres for F1 cars of significantly different (lower) performance and less mass.
And as noted a billion times – Pirelli are following the Target Letter that F1 issues, requiring them to provide tyres featuring specific degradation patterns.
anon
24th November 2023, 21:46
MichaelN, in terms of number of tyres used per car, it’s not exactly as if they weren’t throwing lots of tyres at the cars in the past either.
The trend now seems to be to idealise the 2000s now, given that’s now the period that’s around 25 years from the present and thus what a sizeable chunk of those watching now grew up with. Back then, they’d happily chuck 40 tyres at a car per weekend – and, if we’re frank, there was more moaning and whining about tyres back then than people like to recall (mainly because people don’t enjoy dredging those memories up).
Sumedh
24th November 2023, 17:02
Why drop the ATA.
It was good. It stopped faster teams from using a harder tyre in Q1 / Q2 and further improving their race day strategy advantage.
Plus reducing tyre usage from 13 to 11 sets was another benefit
Fred Fedurch
24th November 2023, 23:29
Dear FIA. Please tell me how you’re going to stop Adrian from thinking about car designs.