Formula 1 rules under scrutiny after a pile-up in Australia
After legendary racing driver Ayrton Senna died at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, the sport’s rules of car design and safety changed dramatically. Now the rules of Formula 1 and the decisions of the FIA, the sport’s governing body, are rarely out of the spotlight.
The sport had reacted quickly to the loss of its biggest star. It introduced requirements for the cars to adhere to a pit lane speed limit and forced the teams to adapt their car designs to lower speeds.
No one has died in 2023, there have been no serious accidents, but there has been discussion about safety. These have intensified the already heavy scrutiny of FIA officials’ decisions.
“They’re not stupid and they’re trying to do the best they can,” George Russell, the Mercedes driver, said after the Australian Grand Prix last month. “But things need to be ironed out to understand where their approach will lie. We’ve seen some crazy or rogue decisions lately.”
Russell, a director of the Formula 1 drivers’ representative body, the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, who is in regular contact with the FIA about its rules and decisions, discussed the impact of Melbourne’s race stoppages following three accidents. When that race resumed with just two laps to go there was a pileup in the first corner, sparking a post-race debate over the FIA’s decision to try and get a full race finish instead of that the event ended behind the safety car, with no overtaking allowed.
The governing body explained that “collaboration with the drivers and all stakeholders is a priority for the FIA”, and then worked with the teams to introduce a new late restart procedure. This is to ensure the tires are warm enough to give the cars more maneuverability to avoid crashes.
But there have been rule debates at every race. The most inconvenient involved an incident during the late race of last month’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix where FIA officials filled the pit lane with people as Alpine’s Esteban Ocon raced into the track.
The FIA required the people involved in the incident to explain their actions to the race stewards. As a result, the organization promised to take “immediate measures” to keep the pit lanes clear, a rule that took effect this month at the Miami Grand Prix.
Safety aside, some teams are dissatisfied with the FIA penalty Red Bull received last year for exceeding the sport’s cost cap in 2021. The team was fined $7 million And told to cut aerodynamic tests by 10 percent for a year, tests that help teams develop their cars.
With Red Bull winning the first five races this year, the 10 per cent cut didn’t seem to have much effect, suggesting Ferrari team principal Frédéric Vasseur. be on it last month.
But Red Bull has said the penalty was indeed severe.
Christian Horner, the team principal, said it was “a significant handicap that we carry with us for most of the year”.
This is a complex motorsport. The current focus on the rules comes from one incident after another, such as the FIA’s requirement that mechanics no more climbing the pit wall fences to celebrate wins, which mechanics have been doing for years.
But as after the dark weekend at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, there are suggestions that closer cooperation between the teams and the FIA could help with safety.
“Certainly,” said McLaren team principal Andrea Stella, for whom Senna won all three of his world titles, “we support simplifying the regulations.”