Regulations and the enforcement of the rules became a big topic of conversation in Formula 1 over the past year, culminating in the events in Abu Dhabi. While the FIA works to review race management, we still don’t know if Lewis Hamilton will retire over his feelings about losing his eighth world championship – and perhaps more importantly, his fifth straight – with certainty almost certainly never have another chance to do so.
F1 drivers need to be measured against something and like him or not, Hamilton is that benchmark at the moment. He hasn’t scored 103 pole positions, 103 races and won seven world championships by being a slouch, so any rider capable of going against him shows us all just how good he is.
Someone else, be it Max Verstappen, George Russell, Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris or Carlos Sainz, will take that mantle, but for now F1 needs Hamilton as a benchmark.
But Abu Dhabi is only part of the problem amid 2021’s never-ending controversy. Every season should be about a team recognizing their weaknesses and doing something about them. It should be the same at the FIA – nobody is perfect.
However, the FIA seems afraid of taking responsibility for what every driver – at one stage or another – has identified as a confusing implementation of the rules. I don’t want to single out anyone in my criticism of the FIA, but now that we have a new President in Mohammed Ben Sulayem, this is the ideal time to make a change.
Teams and drivers have to agree with this, but I doubt many would be against changes that ensure they understand what will happen in certain scenarios.
Formula 1’s two top teams, Mercedes and Red Bull, seem as confused as to what is happening judging by the various radio conversations we’ve heard between them and the FIA over the course of the season. Everyone wants to see a level playing field to ensure whoever wins wins because they are the best and not either through luck or by being in the right place at the right time and taking advantage of a situation unfolding in front of them.
This isn’t about Verstappen becoming champion because he absolutely deserved the title, just as Hamilton would have gotten in 2021 for how well they both drove. Also, a season as a whole usually works itself out once you know the turns and roundabouts throughout the races. Hamilton was still in contention for the title in Abu Dhabi. But the situation with race director calls impacting the final race made it similar to how we had feared the double points race could be late 2014 given the potential for the championship to fluctuate based on a race. That showed that we want a consistent approach to awarding points throughout the season.
But that consistency also applies to the way the rules are applied and everything else. We therefore need more black and white rules so that everyone understands what is happening. Forget Abu Dhabi – Spa was a shame too. How can half points be awarded after three laps behind a safety car? The official result was based on just one round of it!
Here are my suggestions on what may change. I just wish it were the FIA to offer this as a New Year’s resolution. Let’s just hope someone with the clout to do something about it is reading this.
TRACK LIMITS
The white lines are the track boundaries on all tracks and all corners.
If a rider crosses the white line (on the line is acceptable) it constitutes a course limit violation.
Practice and qualifying violations should result in the immediate cancellation of the lap time by the FIA.
An in-race infraction is intended to force the driver to relinquish a position even if no position has been gained, maintaining the change of position across the finish line at the end of that lap.
I would also suggest that the first lap of the race be free for everyone, let them race.
These rules do exist – the white line is the course boundary but is not monitored as such and in some races it is the curbs or something else that forms the boundaries. So this rule simply needs to be implemented on a regular basis and teams should be held accountable for in-race self-regulation, with the FIA only stepping in when a team fails to do so.
If a driver is found to have forced another driver off the track, this can be assessed by the stewards after the race and penalty points can be assigned to that driver – this way the result of that race is not affected and the scoring will reflect that level of aggressiveness used by the offending driver.
DRIVING SLOWLY ON PREPARATION LAP
A maximum time shall be set for each sector, calculated at 105% of the median time of the previous session. This percentage can be easily adjusted if needed.
When exiting the pits, sector 1 is calculated from the pit exit line to the end of the first sector. This allows additional time in this sector to sort the distances.
The penalty for an infraction is to enter the box at the end of the lap in which the infraction was committed.
We see endless reversing in the final sector during qualifying, which is potentially very dangerous. I’m surprised we haven’t seen a serious accident, especially at a track like the Red Bull Ring.
The riders have claimed there is a gentlemen’s agreement on this, but having been in the sport for five decades I can count on one hand the number of gentlemen I’ve met!
These rule changes would become self-regulating, the information can all be viewed on the driver display and is available to the engineer – so slow and you’ll have to pit, meaning you’ll lose your next lap.
POINT DEDUCTION FOR ADDITIONAL COMPONENTS – DRIVER AND TEAM
turbocharger – 5 points
MGU-K – 5 points
MGU-H – 5 points
energy storage – 5 points
control electronics – 5 points
exhaust system – 5 points
First ICE or first complete additional PU – 10 points
Second ICE or second complete additional pi – 15 points
Third ICE or third complete additional pu – 20 points
(increasing in five-point increments from there)
Any exchanged component cannot be reused, which means that basically only the original allocation can be available to each driver at any point in the season.
The reason for changing the engine penalty system is to protect the spectacle of the race for fans and spectators while ensuring that there is still a price to be paid for infractions.
Network penalties should be a thing of the past. As we saw in Brazil, Hamilton was able to recover from whatever was thrown at him.
This proposed system protects the show and ensures that there is a noticeable loss of points.
This current rule was introduced to allow new engine manufacturers to solve themselves if they had an inherent problem. But with my suggestion you could only go back to zero points and not negative points.
It would be very unlikely that a new manufacturer would score big points if it had an inherent problem, so the change would be to prevent the big players from using it strategically – as Mercedes has done on a couple of occasions over the past year .
TIRE CHANGE
If red flag tires are changed for safety reasons, they – like all other parts on the car – must be replaced with tires of the same compound that the car was running on before the red flag was raised. It’s up to each team to ensure they have an appropriate set of each compound ready to fit the strategy they wish to pursue.
If a car has crossed the pit entry line before a VSC, safety car or red flag is requested, i.e. from a green track other than a local yellow, only then should it be free to change tyres.
SECURITY CAR
If the safety car is deployed, any car lapped by the leader will be queued behind the top 10 runners and their score adjusted to put them on the lead lap.
Since this has no safety concerns, it can happen immediately once the lead car is in position behind the safety car.
RACE PROCEDURE AND POINT AWARDING IN SHORTENED RACE
Race aborted before 10% (rounded up) of the race distance covered
- Restart based on qualification results
- Full race distance after restart
- Same tire compound
- Refueling allowed in garages
- Retired cars that entered the pit lane under their own power are allowed to restart if they are able to do so
- If the race cannot be restarted, zero points will be awarded
Completed a race break with 10-50% of the race distance
- Restart based on the order in which the cars completed a complete lap before the race was abandoned across the start-finish line
- Remaining race distance minus two laps to be driven after restart
- Standing reboot
- Lapped cars start behind the cars on the lead lap and are then considered to be on the lead lap
- If the race cannot be restarted, zero points will be awarded
Completed a break in the race with 50-75% of the race distance
- Restart based on the order in which the cars completed a complete lap before the race was abandoned across the start-finish line
- Remaining race distance minus two laps to be driven after restart
- Restart behind the safety car, which runs an out/inlap
- Lapped cars start behind the cars on the lead lap and are then considered to be on the lead lap
- If the race cannot be restarted, half points will be awarded
Race stopped after 75% of the race distance
- Remaining race distance minus two laps to be driven after restart
- Restart behind the safety car, which runs an out/inlap
- Lapped cars start behind the cars on the lead lap and are then considered to be on the lead lap
- If the race cannot be restarted, full points will be awarded
These simple rule changes and clarifications would have avoided many of the problems F1 encountered last season.
The question is does the FIA really have the will to make such changes – either the ones I suggested or others – to fix the problem?
