FIA - Rule Changes for 2016

The FIA, Formula One's Governing Body met yesterday in Paris to discuss and announce rule changes for 2016. F1today wrote an article about a proposed Tyre Change, whereby teams had the freedom to select one of their tyre compounds for each race weekend - sadly nothing was mentioned in the outcome of the meeting. However, the mid-season summer break has been reinstated and the season will start a little later in March, avoiding the previous idea of having an April Start.

Furthermore, there is a change to the exhaust rules: all cars must have a separate exhaust wastegate tailpipe through which all and only wastegate exhaust gases must pass. Which is designed to increase the noise of the V6 Power Unit and will no real effect on either power or emissions.

Since the birth of the V6 era, the noise that the engine produces has been heavily scrutinised and various ideas such as an 'Exhaust Trumpet' or a return to the V8 Engine had been pondered by both critic and rulemaker.

There are also some minor changes, including clarification in drivers' exceeding track limits:

• Cars must now comply with all cockpit and safety equipment requirements during testing; such as the position of the driver’s head, all headrest padding, cockpit padding and ease of driver egress.
• Sporting Regulations regarding track limits have been clarified and specify that drivers “must make every reasonable effort to use the track at all times and may not deliberately leave the track without a justifiable reason”. Penalties will still be allocated based on whether a driver is judged to have gained an advantage.
• The WMSC approved the proposal of the F1 Commission regarding regulations for power unit and gearbox changes. Such penalties prior to qualifying will be applied based on the time of use. For changes made after qualifying, preference will be given to the driver whose team first informed the technical delegate that a change will occur.
• Any driver who causes a start to be aborted, even if he is then able to start the extra formation lap, will be required to start the race from the pit lane. The same process will be applied to a re-start from a race suspension where drivers have been brought to the pit lane.
• The WMSC confirmed a number of clarifications were made to aerodynamic testing restrictions for wind tunnel use and CFD, specifically focusing on reporting and inspection processes for these development tools.
• For 2017, on board cameras on stalks on the nose of cars will be prohibited.