F1 | After the chaos in China, the way of serving penalties changes

After Spa, Formula 1 took a vacation with the traditional summer break, while the world championship will resume in Zandvoort towards the end of August. In the meantime, however, the FIA ​​has ratified the latest regulatory changes, with some changes that concern both the second part of the championship and the future of the category, especially with a view to 2026.

A new draft that also reflects what was decided in the last meeting of the F1 Commission, which was held in the week of the Belgian Grand Prix. In that case, the teams had decided not to extend the points zone as initially hypothesized, keeping it unchanged up to tenth place, but from that meeting other new features were inserted into the regulation.

In addition to the decision already mentioned, there are three major areas of change for the rest of the season, which aim to both clarify some points that have caused confusion in the past, and to provide Pirelli with cars that can more effectively test its future tyres.

What changes in the event of a stop on the track during qualifying

Going back a few months, in April Formula 1 stopped in China for the fifth round of the championship but, in that case, there was no shortage of controversy for two different episodes. The first was the one involving Carlos Sainz in qualifying, with the Spaniard who remained stationary for several seconds on the track following an accident against the barriers. The session was stopped with the display of the red flag and, after managing to move the car again, the Ferrari driver managed to return to the pits, thus being able to continue qualifying.

A situation that raised doubts among rival teams, especially because at the time there was a rule that specified that “any driver whose car stops on the track during qualifying will not be allowed to take any further part in the session”. Aston Martin lodged a protest, basing its accusations on this very article of the regulation. However, the British team failed to win the appeal, with the stewards having pointed out that each driver was still given time in the event of a stoppage on the track.

However, no time limit was set since the teams had never reached an agreement on the issue, thus leaving the decision to the race direction. The important thing, in the FIA’s view, was that the car did not receive physical assistance to restart, although this detail was not officially included in the regulation but was only an agreement with the teams.

A few months later, that same rule was revised, introducing precisely this factor. While in the past the issue of stopping on the track was limited to a generalisation, now the stewards will be able to stop a driver from taking part in a session only if he receives physical assistance on the car: “Any driver whose car stops in an area other than the pit lane during a qualifying session or sprint qualifying session and receives physical assistance will not be allowed to take part in that session again.”

Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

To give an example applied to that specific case, Sainz did not receive any assistance to rejoin the track, as he started his car autonomously: in that case, according to the revised regulation, the Spaniard could have continued qualifying without ending up under investigation.

Change the way you serve penalties

The second episode of that weekend also involved Aston Martin, but more specifically a penalty assigned to one of its two drivers, Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard was penalized for contact with his compatriot Sainz in the final laps of the sprint of the Chinese Grand Prix, being assigned a 10-second penalty, although this made no difference as he retired from the race.

In some specific cases, particularly if drivers retired and were not classified, the regulations provided that the penalty could be converted into a grid penalty for the following race, as happened to Esteban Ocon in Monaco for his contact on the first lap with Pierre Gasly. However, there were also other clauses in the regulations according to which a penalty, if applied in the last three laps of the race, sprint or traditional, or after the end of the session, would instead be added to the total race time of the aforementioned driver.

In this case, however, Alonso had retired from the race, so the addition of five seconds was in fact irrelevant. The stewards noticed this aspect and suggested that the FIA ​​revise the regulation, so that it could also consider cases like this.

Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin AMR24

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

The issue has been addressed and amended in the latest draft regulation, which now reads: “If one of the penalties is imposed on a driver and he is unable to serve the penalty because he is not classified in the sprint session or in the race in the case of a) [5 secondi di penalità] or) [10 secondi di penalità] or because he withdrew from the sprint session or the race in the case of c) [drive through] from) [10 secondi stop&go]the stewards may impose a grid position penalty on the driver in his next race.”

It is interesting to note, however, that a distinction is made here between the types of penalties, namely those of 5 or 10 seconds, which are less severe, and those that impose a pit lane passage or a 10-second stop & go penalty. The practical example is that of Lando Norris, who in Austria was penalized by 5 seconds for exceeding the track limits on too many occasions: in that case the 5 seconds were added to the total race time of the British driver, effectively becoming irrelevant. Even with the revision of the regulations, Norris’ penalty would have remained irrelevant because, having completed 90% of the race and being classified, the 5 seconds would still have been applied to the total race time. Only if Norris had not reached 90% of the race distance, resulting in being unclassified, then the penalty chosen by the stewards would have transformed into a grid penalty for the following race.

Mule cars with a view to 2026 and other modifications

F1 is already looking to the future, as work on 2026 will begin in September, with Aston Martin having been drawn first to test the new tyres in a test between the Azerbaijan and Singapore Grands Prix. Teams can use chassis built to the technical regulations of any of the previous four seasons (2020 to 2023) as the basis for their spare cars, which also includes cars built before the start of the ground effect era.

Other small changes concern the drivers eligible to take part in the Pirelli tests, who will have to have completed at least one Grand Prix or completed at least 500km of testing.