F1 2023 - News/Regulation change/Developments

In the 70s, I experienced hydraulic failure on one of these marvelous Citroen DS I had borrowed whilst driving.
Without warning a red warning light came on the dashboard, and the suspension lowered suddenly, becoming stiffer, then the steering and braking assistance gave up; all happening simultaneously. Finally the clutch became unoperable and I couldn't change gears. At 80mph, it felt like I was onboard of a runaway train, almost coming off the road at the next corner. A real butt clinching moment !!
So I imagine what it must have felt for Leclerc.

 

Just because many of us don't like him::
does mean that this time he is wrong.

 

Yes, absolutely. Take a 2004 V10 and run it on a mechanical-everything control system--would not last a race unless you also took it down 1500 RPMs at red line.

Yes, absolutely. Take a modern F1 transmission and control it mechanically, and it would not last 20 laps.

It is notoriously difficult to write SW that simply cannot fail, especially when various sensor inputs to SW deliver values outside of the expected range (broken or noise).

Then there is the choice to continue and take grid penalties next race because you used up your allotment of engines or take the points penalty now rather than later.

 

Bennie Sulayem too busy holding Andretti's hand to deal with a real issue now lol

F1 stewards slam FIA’s “inability” to enforce track limits in Haas US GP hearing
Formula 1 stewards have called out the FIA’s “inability” to properly enforce track limits as being “completely unsatisfactory” and are urging for a solution to be rapidly rolled out.

 

Not sure this helps Andretti effort lol. More money for 10 teams to share. Why would they ever want to share with an 11th LOL

https://f1i.com/news/493191-formula-1-reports-172-million-q3-revenue-increase.html

Formula 1 reports $172 million Q3 revenue increase
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©RedBull
Phillip van Osten 09/11/2023 at 08:19

Formula 1 continued to power ahead in the third quarter of 2023, with the sport recording a 24 percent increase in revenue year-over-year.

The Formula One Group clocked in for the July-September period with a total revenue of $887 million, which represented a $172 million increase over the same period in 2022.

The group’s Q3 total operating income amounted to $132 million, or a 61 percent increase over Q3 2022. It’s worth noting however that there were eight races held in the third quarter of 2023, compared to seven races held in Q3 2022.


“Primary F1 revenue increased in the third quarter with growth across race promotion, media rights and sponsorship partly driven by one more race held in the current period, which resulted in a greater proportion of season-based revenue recognised,” stated Liberty Media.

“Race promotion revenue also increased due to higher fees generated from the different mix of events held, with two additional races outside of Europe, and other contractual increases in fees.

“Media rights revenue benefited from increased fees under new and renewed contractual agreements and continued growth in F1 TV subscription revenue.

“Sponsorship revenue also increased due to recognition of revenue from new sponsors and growth in revenue from existing sponsors.

“Other F1 revenue increased in the third quarter primarily due to higher freight income driven by two additional races held outside of Europe and higher hospitality revenue generated from the Paddock Club, partially offset by lower licensing income.”

The appreciation in Formula 1 revenue and operating income was logically accompanied by increased payouts to the participating teams.

Compared to the $370 million distributed to the 10 teams in Q3 2022, this year's allocation saw a rise to $432 million. This boost can be attributed to an uptick in the number of races during the period and an anticipation of higher payments for the entire year.

Additionally, Formula 1 incurred startup expenses related to the Las Vegas Grand Prix, with costs escalating from $124 million in the third quarter of 2022 to $183 million this year, signifying a 48 percent increase.

“Formula 1 continues to experience sell-out crowds, record race attendance and strong growth across our social and digital platforms, outpacing that of other major sports leagues,” commented F1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali.


Formula One Group CEO Stefano Domenicali.

“This growth is attracting commercial partners, including our recent agreement with American Express that marks the first new sports vertical they have sponsored in over a decade.

“We are making material progress on our sustainability initiatives, including reducing F1’s corporate emissions and amplifying F1 Academy by fully integrating the series into the 2024 F1 calendar with participation from all ten F1 teams.”

 

Should have been the first thing MBS should have done not clog the grid with his pet team project. Fix the issues not the addition of teams. Make a better sport before you toss in new players.

FIA appoints F1 Commissioner to help lead improvements
The FIA has appointed an F1 Commissioner to help with its strategies and improvements in grand prix racing, Autosport has learned.

Former F1 journalist Dieter Rencken, who has been working as an advisor to FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem for several months, will take up the role with immediate effect.


It is understood that Rencken will report directly to Ben Sulayem, and he has been tasked with assisting in the formulation and implementation of improvements for F1 on behalf of the governing body. The FIA is a separate organisation to F1's commercial rights holders FOM.

He will furthermore help with discussions over the framing of the new Concorde Agreement, the document by which F1 is run, which is expected to come into force in 2026.

The idea of the FIA having a dedicated commissioner for F1 was something that has been talked about several times in the past, with previous FIA president Jean Todt making it part of his manifesto when he first took office in 2009.

 

Saw this in a news article about dramatic photos in the past week. Enjoy!

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The dictatorship of MBS continues lol. How dare you ask for a review.

Ridiculous this is.

FIA set to tighten up F1 right of review procedure
The FIA is set to change its regulations in order to tighten up the process that allows Formula 1 teams to request a right of review, Autosport understands.
AUTHORAdam Cooper
UPDATEDNOV 13, 2023, 1:18 PM



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The window for asking for a review after an event will be shortened from the current 14 day period to four days, or 96 hours.

In addition a fee will be introduced, whereas currently there is no charge.

The plan for change was discussed before the recent request for a review from Haas regarding track limits offences committed by rivals at the US GP that was rejected last week.

However, that case highlights the fact that review requests are more common than they used to be, and the FIA is keen to make teams think twice about pursuing them.

In addition to the Haas example, this year has also seen requests submitted by Aston Martin (Jeddah), Ferrari (Australia) and McLaren (Austria). Only the first of these was successful, as Aston overturned a penalty handed out to Fernando Alonso.

The FIA now intends to tweak both the International Sporting Code and its own judicial rules for 2024, pending approval at the Annual General Assembly in December. The changes will apply to all FIA competitions, and not just F1.

Originally, there was no time limit on a right of review request, so a team could in theory challenge the result of a race that took place months earlier.

That was subsequently changed to 14 days, a limit that Haas took full advantage of when collating its evidence.

 

This is to dissuade teams and drivers to appeal against results and challenge the work of officals. It's not a good look, IMO.

The window to gather evidences to lodge a protest has been reduced to make the exercise more difficult, and costly.

That's another way for the FIA to assert its authority at a time when it is at odds with the teams regarding the Andretti issue.

Reading between the lines, it's also a warning to Massa that his case will not even be considered

 

You said the operative word: Exclusivity

When we had 17 races... every race mattered. It's sort of like football vs baseball. In the NFL... you can't have a bad week without it dramatically impacting your season. In Baseball with 7,453 games... you can lose a lot and it won't matter.

There's just too many races. I used to be on pins and needles until the season started. Now... I can't wait for the season to be over.

 

Disagree. The FIA are cooperating and actually asked for more time to provide documents/data that the Massa Legal team requested via letter as submitted. They have to respond. What they provide could be another matter but they face sanction if they do not respond from what has been in the press. Will be interesting!

 

Cooperating doesn't mean the FIA will overturn the results !

 

Time to remove the dictator from the FIA. Team should be able to ask for reviews. Its a sport not a sand kingdom to be ruled. MBS is a joke.

Steiner: Haas right of review case highlighted FIA "bad job" on track limits
Haas Formula 1 boss Guenther Steiner says he has no regrets about pursuing a right of review request over track limits at the US Grand Prix, despite it being rejected.

 

And Andretti feels unwanted lol!

Alpine abandons F1 engine equalisation push
Plans for a possible Formula 1 engine equalisation move over concerns the Renault/Alpine power unit has a performance disparity to those of other manufacturers have been abandoned, Autosport can reveal.
Author Alex Kalinauckas
Updated Nov 23, 2023, 4:00 AM

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It is understood that Alpine has withdrawn a series of proposed upgrades to its current engine as these did not gain full support from rival teams, which led to an FIA assessment of the situation being closed.

 

Ferrari’s Elkann wants better defined F1 rules from

Ferrari chairman John Elkann is advocating for the FIA to provide clearer and better-defined regulations in certain areas of Formula 1.

Ferrari suffered a significant prejudice last weekend in Las Vegas through no fault of its own in the wake of last Thursday’s drama in FP1, when Carlos Sainz hit a loose water valve cover out on the track, an incident that destroyed the chassis, power unit and energy store of the Spaniard’s SF-23.

However, adding insult to injury, Sainz was hit with a 10-place grid penalty as a consequence of Ferrari replacing the damaged components.

While the FIA stewards sympathized with the Italian outfit’s predicament, they admitted that there was no provision in F1’s sporting regulations that allowed them to waive the penalty in a case of force majeure.

This did not go down well with Scuderia team boss Fred Vasseur, nor with Elkann who seized upon the opportunity to call out the FIA on the lack of clarity of the rules.

"On one side, there are a lot of changes in how the evolution of technologies happen, the importance of being carbon-neutral," Elkann told BBC Sport. "Within that, being able to define clarity on rules and applications is important.

"You don't want things to happen like the 2021 championship, how that ended up [with race director Michaele Masi overruling existing Safety Car guidelines in Abu Dhabi].

“You don't want to have situations like the ones here in Vegas, where you get penalised 10 places.

 

Finally it´s over. A season to be remembered: probably not for the right reasons, but memorable anyway: Verstappen won everything but behind him it was rather chaotic, with all teams going up and down randomly.

McLaren´s late revival and Ferrari recovering 50 points from Mercedes in the last races give a (slim) hope of seeing something different next year.

 

I bet he wants that !! Ferrari got mugged at Las Vegas.

 

He did specify if it was needed. Its not an open invitation. MBS is an idiot no matter. He cant shut up like Russell and is intent on just rattling the Teams and FOM to get his way. Entitled and this is indeed his modus to feel entitled. He is on record bashing women drivers etc. He is a total asshat moron.

 

The calendar needs a bit of re-think. Cost wise makes no sense to have so many races and strive for zero carbon status --

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/russell-f1-illnesses-highlight-unsustainable-toll-of-2024-calendar/10553173/

Russell: F1 illnesses highlight 'unsustainable' toll of 2024 calendar
George Russell believes illnesses going around the Formula 1 paddock in Abu Dhabi highlight the ‘unsustainable’ toll that will be taken on team personnel working all 24 races in 2024.

AUTHORMatt Kew
UPDATEDNOV 30, 2023, 3:32 AM

As the 2023 campaign concluded with the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix running back-to-back with the season finale in the Middle East - forcing people to overcome a 12-hour time difference in three days - drivers, team personnel and championship staff were coming down with sickness at Yas Marina.

Although a 24-round schedule for next year has already been released, with China reinstated for the first time since 2019, there is pressure for Vegas to break away from the Qatar and Abu Dhabi curtain call to allow some respite at the end of what will be the longest season in championship history.

Russell says the fatigue and illnesses at the end of the current 22-race term proves how unsustainable it is for team personnel to commit to a full calendar next year and that limits should be imposed.

"The drivers, we have it best from every single person in this paddock," he said. "The way we travel, we're in a very fortunate position.

“But everybody up and down the paddock, I've got so many mechanics who are ill, people in the engineers’ office, just really struggling with the constant time zone shifts, the body not knowing where you are, eating at different times, staying in different hotels, different environments, different climates.

"The body's getting confused. There are talks for next year about personnel being regulated that they can't do every single race. I think that would be a good thing.

"I don't think it's sustainable for 4,000 people to do 24 races a season, especially when you see how geographically it still doesn't make a huge amount of sense."

While F1 teams do work to rotate personnel, the 2021 introduction of an FIA cost cap has naturally led teams to limit their workforce, in turn restricting the degree to which employees can swap in and out.

 

Thanks to the FIA passing is not a priority just yet - or competition lol

FIA will wait until 2026 to act on F1’s outwash 'loopholes'
The FIA said it will wait until 2026 to close off the ‘loopholes’ that Formula 1 teams are exploiting to increase outwash, despite concerns they are hurting the racing.

 

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/fia-formalises-ban-on-2026-f1-aero-testing/10555913/

FIA formalises ban on 2026 F1 aero testing
The FIA has formally confirmed the ban on Formula 1 aerodynamic testing for 2026 via changes to the sporting regulations.
Author Adam Cooper
Updated Dec 7, 2023, 4:31 PM

Following an agreement at a recent F1 Commission meeting, teams are not allowed to undertake any wind tunnel or CFD work for the new spec cars until 1 January 2025, mirroring a similar arrangement that was made ahead of the last big rules change in 2022.

The future technical regulations have not been finalised, but teams already have a good understanding of what direction will be taken.

Unusually the 2023 sporting regulations have been changed after the end of the actual world championship in order to impose the 2026 ATR ban from 1-31 December, while the same amendments have been made to the 2024 rules.

The sporting regulations for both years now state: “In order to prevent testing which aims to develop for the 2026 season, from 1/12/2023 until 1/1/2025 inclusive, RWTT [restricted wind tunnel testing] may only be carried out using a scale model that substantially complies with the 2023, 2024 or 2025 F1 technical regulations.

“With the exception of dyno testing aimed to develop brake system components with minimal air ducting and provided such tests do not concurrently test (or in any way provide incidental data or knowledge on) the performance or endurance of parts or systems classified as bodywork, no wind tunnel testing may be carried out using car geometry partially or wholly compliant with and/or substantially derived from drafts and/or published versions of the 2026 F1 technical regulations or FIA proposed 2026 bodywork geometries and concepts.”

Similar wording also bans any 2026 CFD simulations until the end of 2024.

Teams are still allowed to do preliminary R&D work for 2026 that is not covered by the aerodynamic testing restriction rules.

 

Well deserved too. He made a very good impression during his first year.