IN 2015?
F1 RULE CHANGES
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31
ABANDONED
LAT
COATES/LAT
SAFETY CAR
Following Jules Bianchi’s horrific accident under
yellow flags at Suzuka last year, F1 has adopted
a virtual-safety-car system. This will avoid the
time-consuming deployment of the safety car
for some incidents, while ensuring that speeds
are more tightly controlled in zones that would
previously have been covered by only doublewaved yellow flags.
When the virtual safety car is triggered, a strict
speed limit will be enforced through the parts of the
track that are under these conditions. Stewards will
punish any drivers who exceed that speed limit.
Last year it was
announced that safety-car
periods would be followed
by standing restarts in
2015. This rule change
has been abandoned.
For the first season of the new 1.6-litre turbocharged
V6 hybrid engines, each driver was allowed five
power units to cover the whole season. This year,
that number reduces to just four.
The power unit is split into various elements, four
of which can be used interchangably. But as soon
as a driver breaks into a fifth, grid penalties will be
applied. But unlike last year, they will not be carried
over to a second race if the driver has not qualified
high enough to drop sufficiently far back on the grid.
Instead, a sliding scale of penalties, such as
having to serve an early-race drive-through penalty,
will be used on the same weekend.
PHOTO4/XPB IMAGES
FOUR POWER UNITS ALLOWED, NEW PENALTIES
MEXICAN GP BACK
ON THE CALENDAR
The Mexican GP returns to the calendar for the
first time since 1992 at the revamped Autodromo
Hermanos Rodriguez. Initially the schedule
included 21 races, but the return of the Korean
GP has been abandoned. Doubt hangs over the
German GP after the Nurburgring said it was
unable to host it, with Hockenheim saying it too
cannot step in. The GP is on the calendar, but
without an official venue. It could yet drop out.
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MARCH 5 2015 AUTOSPORT.COM 31
PREVIEW
DOUBLE POINTS DROPPED
Last year teams conducted a series of four
two-day tests during the season. To save costs,
this has been halved, with two-day tests now
held on the Tuesday and Wednesday after the
Spanish and Austrian GPs.
Teams are also obliged to run ‘rookie’ drivers
(defined as those with fewer than two grand prix
starts) on at least two of those days.
HONE/LAT
To avoid the unsightly
appendages that some F1
cars sprouted last year, the
regulations governing nose
shapes have been modified.
For more detail on this,
read Craig Scarborough’s
explanation on page 42.
The decision to award double points for the 2014
championship finale in Abu Dhabi holds the
distinction of being the most hated rule change
in the history of grand prix racing. Thankfully, it
ultimately made no difference to who won the
championship – but it could so easily have done
had things panned out differently.
Unsurprisingly, this rule has been dropped,
meaning that every race will award points to the top
10 on the usual 25-18-15-12-10-8-6-4-2-1 system.
IN-SEASON TESTING REDUCED
MASON/GETTY
NOSE RULES
SEASON
DUNBAR/LAT
DUNBAR/LAT
changes in F1. EDD STRAW explains the main differences