Rule Changes 2013

Sporting regulations

• Cost-Control Measures
  At the June 2012 meeting of the World Motor Sport Council, the FIA announced plans to introduce cost-control measures for the 2013 season, which would be policed by the FIA pending the agreement of the teams.  This follows a failed attempt by former FIA President Max Mosley to introduce a budget cap for the 2010 season, and the withdrawal of Ferrari, Scuderia Toro Rosso, Sauber and Red Bull from the Formula One Teams Association in December 2011 over the implementation of the Resource Restriction Agreement, a voluntary agreement between teams to limit costs in the sport.

• Qualifying Procedures
  Following HRT's omission from the provisional entry list, the grid was reduced to twenty-two cars, prompting a change to qualifying procedures. With twenty-two cars on the grid, six cars – instead of seven – will be eliminated during the first period of qualifying, with six more eliminated at the end of the second period. The third qualifying period remains unchanged, with the ten fastest drivers all advancing to the final ten minutes of qualifying.

• DRS
  The rules governing the use of the Drag Reduction System (DRS) will be altered. Where drivers were free to use the system at will during free practice and qualifying, from 2013, the use of DRS will be restricted to the designated DRS zone in a bid to improve safety. In response to this, the FIA announced plans to include two DRS zones at every circuit on the 2013 calendar where it was feasible to do so.

• Force Majeure
  The FIA is seeking to remove the rules of "force majeure" to clarify scrutineering procedures. Under the rules of force majeure, cars must be able to return to the pits under their own power during qualifying or else risk exclusion from the results. However, if a team can adequately demonstrate that circumstances beyond their control forced them to stop a car on the circuit before it could return to the pits, then the rules of force majeure dicatate that the team and driver in question are exempt from any exclusion. Under new regulations, force majeure would no longer be recognised as a valid reason for stopping a car. These changes were first proposed in the aftermath of the 2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, when Red Bull Racing instructed Sebastian Vettel to stop on the circuit after qualifying. Although race stewards initially accepted the team's explanation that the order came because of an imminent technical fault that threatened lasting damage to Vettel's engine, it was later discovered that Vettel had insufficient fuel in his car at the time and had been ordered to pull over so as to preserve the mandatory one litre sample required for testing at the end of qualifying. As a result, Vettel was excluded from the results, and the changes to force majeure were put forward.

• Penalty Points System
  Following a crackdown on driving standard by race stewards in 2012, the FIA has sought to introduce a "penalty points" system of enforcing driving standards modelled on the points system used for road-going drivers' licences worldwide. Under the system, driving infringements would be assigned a points value that would be deducted from a driver's Super Licence when they commit an infraction. When a driver accumulates a pre-determined number of points, they face an automatic ban from racing.

• Mid-season Testing
  The practice of mid-season testing, which returned to Formula One in 2012 after having been banned in 2009, will be discontinued in 2013 as part of cost-cutting initiatives.

• Entry fee increase
  Teams will be faced with an increased entry fee for the season. Whereas entry fees had previously been fixed at EUR€309,000 (USD$396,637) for all teams, from 2013, entry fees will be based on the World Championship points a team scored during the previous season. Teams will now pay a basic entry fee of USD$500,000 (EUR€389,525), plus USD$5,000 (EUR€3,895) per point scored. The reigning Constructors' champions will pay at a premium rate of USD$6,000 (EUR€4,614) per point scored. With a final tally of 460 points, Red Bull Racing were presented with an entry fee of USD$3,260,000 (EUR€2,507,091).