FIA 2012 Technical & Sporting Regulation Changes

Brogan

Legend
Staff Member
The WMSC has ratified some of the proposed changes to the rules and regulations for next year, and added a few new ones.
  • Under a safety car lapped cars will now unlap themselves and join the back of queue so they are not in the way at the restart
  • Races are limited to four hours duration, including any red flag stoppages (due to the Canadian GP)
  • Drivers can no longer cut corners on their way back to pits during practice and qualifying sessions (due to Vettel in Korea)
Full breakdown here: http://adamcooperf1.com/2011/12/07/wmsc-confirms-f1-rule-changes-for-2012/

Press release here: http://www.fia.com/en-GB/mediacentre/pressreleases/wmsc/2011/Pages/wmsc-071211.aspx
 
Some of the other noteable rules are...

  • When defending a position, drivers will not be allowed to move back onto the racing line after moving off-line
  • During a race suspension, cars which are in the pits when a race is suspended will be allowed to re-join the cars on the grid in the position they were in (so Hamilton in Canada could rejoin the race assuming his car was in a condition to race)
 
Hmm, very interesting.

So in addition to the weaving rule, it is now explicitly stated that once a driver has moved off line to defend, they can't now move back on to the racing line to take a corner in the normal manner?

If so, that's going to mean lots of passes at corners.
 
Surely you get the same result by having the lapped care move over, rather than wasting time while they cruise round the circuit...
 
As we saw this season, sometimes it can take several corners for the lapped cars to get out of the way, or even worse, they don't keep a small gap to the leading cars, which makes those fighting for wins and podiums behind the lapped cars at the restart lose any chance to those in front.

Of course it will mean a change in the rules for the lap time delta when the safety car is out, as those lapped cars will need to go at full speed to catch the pack up.
 
  • Drivers may no longer leave the track without a justifiable reason, i.e. cutting a chicane on reconnaissance laps or ‘in’ laps to save time and fuel.
That one makes me laugh, so that obversely means no doughnuts too! Shame about that i like a driver to do some doughnuts once or twice a season.
 
With the new rule on defending the racing line, I'm guessing there will be a few upsets or penalties in Melbourne.

As for the three days of testing, do we know when this will happen? I thought the idea was touted with test happening after the Spanish GP, personally I like to see 2 mid-season tests with the first 6 races in and then the second 12 races in. Also I believe the test is at Mugello, although it's not the best for gathering information it does mean that teams won't have done hundreds of laps on a track just before they're due to race on it, a lot less boring.
 
As we saw this season, sometimes it can take several corners for the lapped cars to get out of the way, or even worse, they don't keep a small gap to the leading cars, which makes those fighting for wins and podiums behind the lapped cars at the restart lose any chance to those in front.

Of course it will mean a change in the rules for the lap time delta when the safety car is out, as those lapped cars will need to go at full speed to catch the pack up.
I meant have them move over while they are all still stacked up behind the safety car, instead olf them overtaking the safety car and waiting while they catch the lap up. :)

They can all restart in race order and it would save all the time they spend cruising round to join the back of the pack.
 
There could well be lots of collisions too, due to the new rule.

Driver in front goes on the defensive and moves off the racing line to the inside.
Driver attacking goes on the racing line, on the outside.
Both cars arrive at the corner, driver on the inside brakes too late or slides on the marbles and t-bones the driver on the outside.
 
I meant have them move over while they are all still stacked up behind the safety car, instead olf them overtaking the safety car and waiting while they catch the lap up. :)
Ah, my mistake, I thought you meant you preferred the current system.

I agree that would be a lot quicker and make more sense, hence why the FIA haven't implemented it; they're not exactly known for sensible rules.
 
I'm not so sure about cars unlapping themselves behind the SC. I'm sure we all remember the exciting finish to the 2008 season, but unless I remember incorrectly Vettel only managed to overtake Hamilton because Kubica was unlapping himself on Hamilton, was incredibely slow about it and caused Hamilton to lose his much-needed 5th place. But there are positives to unlapping which Brogan and others have stated, so I guess I'm neither here nor there about it.
 
Ah, my mistake, I thought you meant you preferred the current system.

I agree that would be a lot quicker and make more sense, hence why the FIA haven't implemented it; they're not exactly known for sensible rules.
Probably due to trying to work out where a driver is supposed to be. Say the leader laps one car before the SC comes out, where is that driver supposed to feed back in? You can't then have him drop a lap to everyone else in the field surely, this would be against the spirit of competition..

I think they do it the way they do so a driver passes the telemetry point the right number of times.
 
Both cars arrive at the corner, driver on the inside brakes too late or slides on the marbles and t-bones the driver on the outside.

That could happen, and has happened, with the current regulations. This just reinforces the "one move" protocol. The discussion was always whether moving back onto the racing line constituted a second move, and this legislation merely explicitly confirms that. I don't see why this will increase the number of accidents.
 
Probably due to trying to work out where a driver is supposed to be. Say the leader laps one car before the SC comes out, where is that driver supposed to feed back in? You can't then have him drop a lap to everyone else in the field surely, this would be against the spirit of competition..

I think they do it the way they do so a driver passes the telemetry point the right number of times.
how hard can it be to subtract 1 from each of their lap counts when Charlie pushes a button? Seriously, when we had the rule before it was a nightmare, we lost three or four minutes and two laps per SC waiting for them to all catch up, espcially somewhere long like Spa where there's always a SC.
 
  • During a race suspension, cars which are in the pits when a race is suspended will be allowed to re-join the cars on the grid in the position they were in (so Hamilton in Canada could rejoin the race assuming his car was in a condition to race)

I really don't understand the reasoning behind this. If you're out, your race is over. This is just stupid imo...
 
Nosecone and roll hoop camera locations are specified to stop teams placing them to improve downforce.

"Recent seasons have seen the FOM nose cameras located in a manner clearly aimed at promoting the performance of the front wing rather than to deliver effective TV pictures," he explained. "A new article (20.3.4) has been introduced to ensure a minimum standard for the field of view of any nose mounted camera.

"A similar minor change is made to the roll hoop camera location to ensure that a clear picture is not sacrificed on the altar of downforce."
http://www.gpupdate.net/en/f1-news/272604/nose-camera-tweaks-for-2012-season/
 
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