FIA confirms 2015 rules including standing restarts

2015 F1 season

Posted on

| Written by

The FIA has announced new rules for the 2015 F1 season including the use of standing starts following Safety Car periods.

A standing start will used following a Safety Car period except within the first two laps of a race or during the final five laps.

The proposed change proved unpopular with F1 fans when it was announced. In an F1 Fanatic poll 67% opposed the rules change with 20% in favour.

Changes will also be made to the technical rules governing car noses “to ensure improved safety and to provide more aesthetically pleasing structures”.

Among the other changes to the design of the cars is the requirement of two-stage wheel fasteners to reduce the chance of a wheel becoming detached from a car.

Further new regulations will ensure brake discs rotate at the same speed as wheels and enforce the use of lighter materials for skid blocks.

Cost cutting

A series of new rules have been introduced with the aim of reducing costs.

The current parc ferme restrictions, under which teams are restricted in how they can modify their cars, will now begin after final practice instead of qualifying. The Friday night curfew will increase from six hours to seven next year, and will be extended by a further hour the year after.

Teams will be allowed to use only four complete power units during the season instead of the five permitted this year. However the FIA noted this change will not be applied “if there are more than 20 races in a season”.

Wind tunnel and computational fluid dynamic (CFD) testing will be subjected to tighter restrictions, as will real-world track testing.

In-season track testing will be banned again, and the three four-day pre-season tests must all take place inside Europe. Two of this year’s tests were conducted in Bahrain.

However some teams have criticised the scope of the cost cutting rules changes, saying they do not go far enough.

2015 F1 season


Browse all 2015 F1 season articles

Image © Red Bull/Getty

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

204 comments on “FIA confirms 2015 rules including standing restarts”

  1. Stop the madness.

    1. MsTamaraEcclestone
      26th June 2014, 17:53

      Stop what madness..?

      My hope is that they also introduce a points multiplier for each restart during the race (one restart = double points for the race, two restarts = triple points, and so on..)

      They might also want to consider implementing a reversed grid restart in the last 10 laps or so.. after all a grand prix can get so boring towards the end.. We need some kind of last minute shoot-out to liven things up.

      Finally I think we need something to make the driver line up more exciting.. Maybe require a celebrity driver to take part in each race.. Imagine, instead of Benedict Cumberbach on the podium doing interviews we could have him on the podium spraying champagne after winning the race.

      1. Or maybe dong it in full reverse the all race…

      2. Or half the grid runs the circuit clockwise and the other half runs the circuit anti-clockwise…

      3. If you actually think that any non racing ‘celebrities’ could have a chance of getting around any circuit without spinning it at least once, then you are out of your mind and you have obviously not seen any footage of the Jerez test when even the most experienced pilots were not able to control their crafts.

        On the other hand I’ve heard indycar is quite good… Bye F1 :'(

    2. Is it time for Formula 1 to truly break away from the FIA?

      1. The teams voted for this tripe. Asking them or the sport to save itself is an exercise in futility.

        The only thing that can save the sport is the European Commission or the sport totally imploding. As much as I love F1, there’s a part of me that would like to see the latter happen. The people who run the sport and the teams have repeatedly shown that they care not a jot for the well-being of the sport. They only care about themselves.

      2. I think it is time for a Dan Gurney-style White Paper for F1. Ironically, it was Bernie’s F1 success which impelled the White Paper and CART breaking away from USAC. But now, 40 years later, things are different. The teams need to organise and lay out a real plan. Nothing should be off the table, including jettisoning the FIA. But the biggest problem isn’t the FIA, it is the commercial rights holder siphoning away so much money. That is the cracked foundation in this entire shaky edifice.

      3. Nope, it is time for F1 to break away from or reconstruct/ rethink FOM (i.e. Bernie). Seriously, when these highly paid, ”smart” individuals sit down to talk about how to improve F1, what is being mixed in their coffee? Double Points, Artificial Sparks, Standing Restarts…not one, sensible idea.

    3. I think we might just as well announce that F1 is for sale… FIFA has an ad that showcases countries gathering to level the playing field which is ironic and obviously a problem in world football, obviously it is a problem as long no one notices the Platini\Blatter war. In F1 we keep stamping down the authority of tv with these rules that ought to take away the sporting truth. I think someone missed that inane safety car rule that allowed teams in 078 to win races by fixing crashes. Show>sport.

    4. I really wonder if these people have thought what will happen if all the fans of the “older demographic”, that F1 treats with total contempt, decide this is the last straw and stop watching, and they fail (highly likely) to attract many of the new “younger demographic” to replace them. RIP F1.

      1. @HoHum
        Think you nailed it. Thanks for your observations.
        I am that older demographic… I remember watching since Jackie Stewart’s era on Wide World Of Sports back in the day. Perhaps am growing cynical but my view is that Formula One is being dumbed down, plasticized and sugar-freed.
        I fear that Formula One is becoming a some kind of weird soap opera-like Reality Show.
        A sign of the times?
        Numerous occasions these past seasons have [ sadly ] felt ” just about had enough of this nonsense… “. Perhaps one day may actually choose not to tune in except that… I LOVE FORMULA ONE RACING!
        Yes, I feel the contempt you that you are observing and it’s the perfect descriptor.
        Having said that.. this is turning out to be a pretty good season for spectating as I am enjoying the races this year.
        Will continue to watch Formula One races and rules changes with interest.
        However, if Henry Winkler becomes the official starter and instead of red lights to start Ken Block flies across the start/finish line fifty feet in the air his Ford Fiesta with flames shooting out the back .. or if I see as many a one single ” shark with a frickin’ laser on it’s head ” I may be forced to reconsider.
        How far will they actually go with this ” madness “?
        A false spectacle is not really spectacular… is that too deep for the FIA to understand?
        Very sincerely hope that some purity and honesty of Formula One racing can be restored before it’s too late.
        Meanwhile… still hooked here.

  2. I cannot believe it ! They’ve ruined this sport !

    DRS was a temporary fix. Then they create more artificial racing by making rubbish tyres on purpose. Then they come up with double points in the final round. And now we have more fancy stuff and less racing with standing restarts !

    For all they’ve done to safety, they make races more dangerous with potentially 2 or 3 starts each race. No one remembers Spa 2012?! team members will have to leave the pitwall 2 or 3 times a race, they’ll have to put the medical car at the back of the grid again, everyone alert again… What if someone’s on very old tyres and then he has to restart a race from standing still? how that guy’s going to brake with so many people around him? how is he going to pull away properly?

    It races danger exponentially. And makes everything even more artificial ! when did it occur to the FIA members that F1 needed to became something else to continue being F1?!

    It’s baffling. It’s shocking. It’s outrageous. It’s just embarrasing… I’m a fan of racing… not standing starts. I’m a fan of proper wheel to wheel racing, not motorway DRS-powered overtakes. I’m a fan of exciting championship battles, not someone lucking into it because one race is worth more than another. I’m a fan of F1.

    But not this…. and it’s never going to change back to what it used to be. And that makes me, really, really, super sad.

    For 1 thing they do right, they do 5000 wrong. And very wrong.

    1. Why do we have to endure this madness?!

      Why must a driver, dominating, in his own right, with talent and speed to his side, risk a deserved win because some backmaker crashed with 6 laps to go, and a standing start is needed…

      1. Have they not just completely defeated the point of P3?

        P1 is the get a base set up for the car, P2 is long runs and maybe a bit of experimentation, P3 is nailing the setup and testing a qually lap (with engines turned down). However if you get it wrong in P3 and want to make a change you now have no time to change anything or even repair the cars? What are the mechanics meant to do in the two hours up to Q1, put their feet up and have a few brews? How does that even save money? Are the FIA really so pedentic they think making restrictions between P3 and Q1 is really going to make any impact on costs??

        I feel this sport has been on a self destructive spiral of decline for some time now. I sometimes wonder why I even bother with it anymore. It’s quite ironic that all these changes to encourage casual viewers and causing the sports true fans to leave. It doesn’t take a genuis to work out you treat your long term customers/clients/fans more importantly than new ones who could turn tail and leave just as fast as they arrived.

        1. @nick-uk, you say: I feel this sport has been on a self destructive spiral of decline for some time now. I agree. And I believe who controls F1 knows that. But, could help me understanding why they insist on that path? Do you know if there’s an hidden interest? Because, for me, this is totally non-sense…

          1. Well, Bernie has made it obvious on a couple of occasions he’d like to get even more of a controlling interests. You know what they say: Buy low, sell high.

            It’s in Bernie’s interest to buy low…and that’s where the FIA is taking the stock. Coincidence???

        2. @nick-uk, (grumpy old fart alert! ) I remember the days of the “garagistas” when the budgets were infinitely smaller and in those days it was normal to re-build both the engine and/or the car overnight as many times as necessary, but then they didn’t have 22 people to change tyres .

        3. Tom Sherrill
          27th June 2014, 20:37

          The P3/parc ferme change will likely force teams to do more running in P1-3 to make sure they will be set for qualifying – seems like a good thing for fans, yes? Repairs to damaged/faulty parts could be made after P3 just as they are now after qualifying under parc frrme rules.

      2. How is that scenario much different than a safety car today? 30 second lead goes *poof* when the SC comes out.

        1. to @guelph
          It is nearly impossible to lose your lead after the Safety Car-in. You as a lead driver control the whole field. And you begin to accelerate earlier than anyone else. You have fairly deserved advantage when you are in lead.
          You will lose that impulse starting from the standing grid.

          1. Tom Sherrill
            27th June 2014, 20:06

            And what if that lead was under a second? With the current rules you actually gain an advantage. Isn’t that unfair to the guy in second?

    2. I haven’t read through anything on here before where I was nodding along quite so much.

      Well done that man.

    3. The problem is that entities such as the FIA, FIFA, COI, etc… believe they are accountable to nobody. They have their posh offices in expensive places and their corrupt leadership believe they are immune of any responsibility for their ludicrous actions.
      Standing re-starts is the solution for WHAT PROBLEM? I wholeheartedly agree that it will create huge risks and hazards for the drivers. That’s the problem when we’ve had 20 years since the passing of an F1 driver during a race: PEOPLE FORGET the impact. If they want excitement, what about having snipers shooting at the tires randomly during the race? Tragic move, FIA.

      1. “If they want excitement, what about having snipers shooting at the tires randomly during the race? Tragic move, FIA.”

        Silverstone last year…

    4. I agree, they seem to be out of control concentrating on the show side of Formula 1 while sacrificing the sport side it is very sad indeed.

    5. Completely agree @fer-no65 . It’s so depressing. Who’s coming up with these ideas?

      Not only do the people who run the sport not bother to listen to the fans – they almost seem to go out of their way to do the complete opposite of what the fans want. It seems that the sport is fixated on attracting casual fans and believes that these fans want to see constant overtaking (no matter how artificial) – hence DRS and standing restarts.

      They don’t seem to grasp that not every single race needs to be a thriller; just like how not every football match can be as thrilling as, say, the famous United-Real Madrid ties of 2003. It makes you appreciate the great races all the more for having witnessed a few average or below-average races.

      What’s more, trying to make a race exciting through manufactured means is never going to sustain long-term interest in the sport. Apologies to use a football analogy again (it is the World Cup after all) – but imagine if FIFA shortened the length of the pitch, made the goals bigger and mandated that each team could only play 2 defenders. There’d be goals galore but I for one would lose interest very quickly.

      I feel like F1 is reaching that stage now. Will Buxton relays in his excellent blog that many people tweet him saying about how they love the purity of GP2 – and I can see where they’re coming from.

      The people who run F1 need to learn that the best way to attract new fans is to strengthen what they offer to the hardcore fans. Give us a dedicated YouTube channel so we can analyse incidents from multiple angles after the race, give us access to all of the team radio feeds live online during the race so we can follow our preferred driver/team, give us access to live timing and data (on an app that actually works) so we can follow strategic battles as they unfold. Get rid of the gimmicks – DRS, standing restarts and double-points. Make the sport a proper sport again.

      That way, when casual fans discover the sport, they’ll learn that it isn’t a superficial two-hour show of constant passing and re-passing but that there’s much more to be discovered and to become “hooked” on.

      1. ‘Give us a dedicated YouTube channel so we can analyse incidents from multiple angles after the race, give us access to all of the team radio feeds live online during the race so we can follow our preferred driver/team, give us access to live timing and data (on an app that actually works) so we can follow strategic battles as they unfold. Get rid of the gimmicks – DRS, standing restarts and double-points. Make the sport a proper sport again.’

        Spot on!

      2. Tom Sherrill
        27th June 2014, 20:13

        If a standing start is “artificial” mid-race why isn’t it that way in the beginning? Drivers that make headway at the start are hailed as heroes but aren’t they behind on the starting grid because they weren’t good enough in qualifying? How is that fair to the drivers who qualified better? By your logic, they are artificially making up for a poor qualifying effort.

    6. Tom Sherrill
      27th June 2014, 20:02

      Why does everyone think they are stopping the race and having crews come over wall? They are just going to have safety car tour around as they do now except when the safety car peels off instead of beginning to race then, the cars will form for a moment on the grid and then restart. There isn’t going to be a shutting down of the cars and crews over the wall. If someone’s tires need to be changed they could do it as they do now under SC. So many people seem to be freaking out about this idea yet they don’t actually understand what the new rules actually are

    7. @Tom Sherrill I agree with you.

      @fer-no65 I don’t see standing restarts as less racing. I don’t see potentially 2 or 3 ‘dangerous’ restarts per race…we don’t generally have that many safety cars now…nor do I envision the pit crews ‘leaving the walls’ for these. The cars will already be running and warm, and the medical car car be at the ready as usual, parked wherever it is during the race, presumably near the end of pit lane ready to come out on track at any time needed.

      What if one guy is on old tires? That can happen with rolling starts too, but I think usually the odds are several drivers will be on approximately the same strategy, and many will likely have pitted during the safety car period anyway. Not to mention the teams will adapt to this new rule and likely won’t stay out on old tires unless everybody has, for example if this happens not long after more drivers have done their first stops for new tires.

      Baffling, shocking, outrageous, embarrassing? I just don’t see it. You’re a fan of wheel to wheel racing? Well there you have it. I would use those four words to describe DRS and double points, but standing restarts? I don’t get the outrage.

  3. The sprinkler system idea actually doesn’t seem as bogus now. :/

    1. Actually I think you’re onto something. Maybe instead of campaigning strongly against such rule changes we should campaign for the least bad rule change they propose.

    2. Wasn’t there one where you could take a short cut 3 times per race?

      1. Are they introducing Red Shells and oil slicks next year?

  4. How is it every year they come up with more and more stupid ideas? It actually hurts my brain thinking about it. When will the start to consider actually considering fans… Because there is absolutely no way in hell they did this for us thinking it was a good idea, and it doesn’t benefit any of the teams so… I don’t get it.

    How much do they pay these people? Put that money back into F1 instead of funding these dimwits.

    1. They do it because they can. So called ‘die hard’ fans will accept anything. Me? I don’t bother too much with formula 1 any more. I used to watch every race, religiously. Now I see the ‘sport’ as a joke, Wrestling on wheels where the rules change for no reason other than to justify some idiots job on the board. If true fans want their sport back they need to turn off en mass. Stop watching and subscribing to the nonsense. When the money evaporates there will be an announcement of ‘classic’ F1 going back to real racing. By that time no one will care. They’ll have moved on to something else. You have only yourselves to blame.

      1. I agree, although I have watched the sport since 1975 I feel that it’s no longer the pinnacle of racing. I have been changing my channels to see what else has been going on all year and found I haven’t missed F1. I watched 9 hours of Left Mans and enjoyed every lap. It was compelling. F1 is a fraction of this and within an hour I’m bored and irritated by the look of the cars, the amount of pit lane crew, the fueling considerations, the tyre considerations (rather than change the tyres they will settle for points), and lots more. I don’t want to lose F1 but it’s certainly not attractive at the moment.

  5. Double Points , Standing Restarts , Parc ferme starts from end of FP3 , what next Allocate points from FP1 and no racing is needed to be done and costs are reduced

  6. You know, I was really looking forward to F1 2015, what with the return of Honda and all. But now, meh, not so much. This is a worse idea than double points.

    I find it incredible that F1 persists in going down the avenue of cheap entertainment, while making the sport more expensive to follow.

    1. @jackysteeg, yeah. And, let’s see if the double points rule doesn’t cause any damage this year… Would be something to have a F1 champion, and a loser, because of that rule…

  7. On a side note…

    “In-season track testing will be banned again, and the three four-day pre-season tests must all take place inside Europe. Two of this year’s tests were conducted in Bahrain.”

    Why does in-season track testing goes on and off every year since 2011? they support it, then they don’t want it, then they support it again… either they are stupid, or someone is very good at lobbying.

    1. It’s a new year of a new powertrain. Think about it.

  8. You know what, I’m going to say it. Being an F1 fan these days is flat out embarrassing.

    1. @jackysteeg It’s very difficult to explain to someone new why they should start watching F1. It’s lost pretty much all of its sporting merit, and it’s gained gimmicks. And the worst thing is, they haven’t even made the racing better, the ‘show’ better, or increased excitement levels.

    2. @jackysteeg, you’re right. In fact, we are fans of what? F1? And what is F1 nowadays? Can you say for sure? I don’t know… Probably, I, or we, love a sport that doesn’t exist any more.

    3. Yeah, I’m more inclined to try to follow WEC; more and more manufacturers are stepping in, and it may only be a matter of time before we see large manufacturer battles. Porsche joining WEC was the first step… it’d be nice to see one of the other German marques join (can’t let Stuttgart and Ingolstadt have all the fun and glory) or some other Japanese marques (it’s only Toyota now, but with Nissan joining, maybe others will become interested). Imagine Mazda joining up again (I’m in a dreamworld where they make a rotary-hybrid powertrain) or Honda (tweak their F1 engine for LMP purposes)…

      Philosophically, I think LMP1 is closer to the F1 ideals than F1 is these days.

      1. Even better imagine a program that staged single class 300km races 15 times a year and possibly another class doing the same on alterate weekends.

    4. Guys, this is not Formula 1 any more, I guess it should be Formula $, since we have Mr Maldonado who has empty brain and pocket full of money.

  9. Ridiculous, Safety car periods will needlessly even longer.

  10. Why does the FIA insist on introducing rules which nobody asked for? I mean seriously, has anyone advocated this rule?

    1. The FIA is a useless organization, in order to justify their existence they need to continually make changes.

      1. @canadianjoe the FIA makes good rules in its other events though, outside of Formula E, of course.

    2. What exactly is this “rule” trying to solve? Or is simply change for change’s sake?

  11. In ten years time people will look back at this era of F1 with disgust.

    1. I hope you’re right, but my experience tells me we will look back at this time and think it wasn’t so bad back in 2014. It just seems to get worse. For me ’94 was the turning point.

    2. @royal-spark

      That’d mean in 2024 F1 will be better… and I seriously doubt it…

    3. Hopefully there will still be F1 in 10 years, with all these un fan friendly changes things are look bleak!

    4. In ten years time I doubt anybody will think of F1 at all.

  12. F1 is self annihilating now, isn’t it.

    1. @xivizmath, I think the same. What I cannot understand is why.

  13. I’m completely lost for words by some of the decisions F1 is making recently. They’re clearly trying to attract casual viewers to sport but are going about it all wrong.

    If they really want to get casual fans watching, the need to showcase the sport with new media. Are people going to be tuning in after hearing the news of standing restarts? No. Are people going to be tuning in after, let’s say, watching a highlights video from the epic Canadian Grand Prix? Yes.

    Why F1 still doesn’t have an official YouTube account is baffling but like Bernie has said this whole Twitbook business is “just a phase.”

    1. Could not agree more. Total disconnect from the fact that the demographic they need to target to grow the audience use different media and expect their sports to accommodate that.

      So F1 is broadcast in colour on TV. The FIA and F1 management communicate primarily via media interview and press release. Not every race result will have the same impact on the championship standings. A prominent teams engines are underpowered compared to their competition, but high profile technical issues for those competitors do allow a race win (or two) for the weakling.

      Sound like 2014? Sorry, that was 1967. The big difference here? In 1967, colour TV was a fairly new and revolutionary technology that F1 was embracing to increase revenues, improve its public standing, and give fans even better ways to follow the sport.

      The sport has come a long way, hasn’t it?

  14. I see it that way.
    They found a way to make us stop complain about the noise.

    1. Daniel (@collettdumbletonhall)
      26th June 2014, 19:26

      hahaha

    2. @us-brian, very good! That’s probably the reason :)

  15. “The proposed change proved unpopular with F1 fans when it was announced. In an F1 Fanatic poll 67% opposed the rules change with 20% in favour.”

    I’m starting to see a pattern here. Remember to vote YES when they suggest bingo ball grid slot allocations.

    1. In fact the result should have been more emphatic, in the poll we did not know if the standing start would be implemented every safety car or only for severe accidents.

  16. I can remember when F1 was about racing, not stupid gimmicks

  17. However some teams have criticised the scope of the cost cutting rules changes, saying they do not go far enough.

    What cost were cut? I only see the increased testing that had mostly to do with having completely new engines being dropped. But that is hardly going to change anything.

    Apart from that, it looks like the FIA is standing there watching teams without any consideration for the long term, nor for the sport as a whole, and the “promotor” who is doing his best to criticize the sport at the same time as bringing it in disrepute with their behaviour and only being interested in bagging lots of money and not doing an iota of promotion at all taking F1 and driving it down the drain. Great job, guess that Indian ministry of sport was right in their assessment of F1 then.

    I guess we can only hope Ferrari does go to sportscars to further boost the field there and enjoy the action there to see racing.

    1. @bascb And by mandating the increased use of titanium skid blocks (instead of wood), it therefore drives up the cost further.

      1. good point @beejis60. But hey, they give off sparks, right!

  18. Jonathan Sarginson
    26th June 2014, 18:04

    …let’s all move over to WEC…better regulations (there must be a more adult panel at FIA for this series)…and, from so far this year some amazingly close racing between totally different (engine/ERS) designs, and with another manufacturer (the Newey designed Red Bull Nissan) coming in next year, we should have an amazing season…just waiting for Ferrari and Ford to come back to rejoin their battle………

    1. I watched le mans for the first time this year and absolutely loved it ! I’m already planning a trip to go next year.

    2. petebaldwin (@)
      26th June 2014, 18:55

      It won’t be long before Alonso joins either. I’d put my money on 2016.

    3. the Newey designed Red Bull Nissan

      Couple of exclusives there!

    4. The WEC is jointly run by the FIA and the ACO, but I get the feeling it’s far more ACO than FIA.

    5. I’ll give you a big =1, no a HUGE +1 on that. I have loved F1 for so long now, but I’m becoming despondent hoping they’ll find some sanity…and a sack.

      Meanwhile, I’ve watched what is almost a re-birth of Le Mans and endurance style racing where they simply “got it right”.

      It may be time to switch. I’ve already paid for the WEC package so I can stream all the races.

      1. Oops, that should have read a “big +1”

    6. I posted a similar sentiment in response to an earlier post… but as I said earlier, I think LMP1 is philosophically closer to F1 ideals than F1 actually is at the moment.

      It’s a damn good thing that there are so many other racing series to watch. I’ve found GP2 to be quite thrilling, actually…

    7. I’m in full agreement, @keithcollantine, time to start the “WEC Fanatics” blog, you will be too young to retire when F1 implodes.

      1. Nah @hohum. We will just keep with being F1Fanatics. You know how it is with Fanatics, reality often is not up to cut for them, so will just have to lament about that while watching exciting motorsport (i.e. not F1) :-)

  19. what people are not looking at F1 as much now that it’s on pay channels?

    Invent a problem that noone complains about and mess up trying to fix it… DRS, half point races, standing restarts, what’s next?

    Imaginary problems, Bernie and the rest got them… never mind the real ones

  20. Michael Brown
    26th June 2014, 18:05


    I blame the teams.

    They can never agree to any sensible rule changes because they don’t want to lose their competitive edge, and so the FIA comes up with stupid rules instead.

    1. petebaldwin (@)
      26th June 2014, 18:53

      Well said. The teams could veto this but they won’t.

    2. Even with the teams disagreeing there is no need for rules and vile as these. Just disgraceful.

  21. I need a Valium :(

  22. If they wanted to reintroduce standing restarts I don’t understand why they don’t scrape safety car altogether – red flag the race in safety car situation, have drivers form up on the grid and marshalls will clear the track faster as no cars would be passing the dangerous zone.

    I’m actually a minority I guess, I’m not really THAT opposed to standing restarts – position changes in current rolling restarts aren’t really interesting and rarely if ever produce any position change.

    1. Rolling restarts are not designed to produce position changes — quite the contrary, they’re designed *not* to give an “unfair” advantage to anyone after someone else’s mishap. Bunching up is in fact an unfortunate consequence.

      1. Red flagging and therefore stopping hot cars is a far different kettle of fish…far better to keep them running and cool unless a red flag is absolutely necessary and those are very rare circumstances.

  23. In other news Dick Dastardly just signed for Mclaren. Peter perfect will take Kimis seat at ferrari and sauber will be re-branded to the ant hill mob.

    1. Where are Dudley Dooright , Rocky and Bullwinkle going to go ?

  24. This is bad news indeed, after the maximum imposed time limit for a race the amount of real racing could be cut short in a race where there a couple of shunts. Also , I fail to see how this is anything but yet another inappropriate direction for F1 to head towards for the good of the show, instead of being for the good of the sport. How does this not penalise the first place driver? Tough times ahead for the sport, with some of the rules that have been introduced in the last season those times are only going to get tougher.

  25. wow, what a farce, what a farce.

    yeah sure, only 20% of fans love it, lets make it mandatory. pfffft!

  26. Woo0t… ok, they have officially gone bonkers. I’m quitting F1, it is becoming a bigger charade than American Egghand (football)

  27. Awesome, this should fix everything (and if it doesn’t, that just means they need more of what is not already working).

  28. why did they need these stupid rule changes i hate almost all of them except the nose rules and wind tunnel and CFD restrictions and safety improvements everything else doesnt make sense why are they restricting them to 4 power units teams already limit their running and racing to save the power unit this will discourage them even more now and how much cost are the new parc ferme rules going to save just give the teams the best chance to compete by allowng them to change set up

  29. Oh dear, it feels like the sky is falling on us.
    I’m gonna retire from F1 and then watch to Formula Renault 3.5 and GP2 as the pinnacle of open-wheels motorsport.

  30. Was the standing start not optional? I thought Graeme Lowdon commented that it’s up to Charlie to use that should the situation arise, otherwise safety cars can be used as normal?

    1. It’s up to Charlie? We’re doomed.

    2. It’s strange, because I don’t mind them stopping to clean up a lot of debris (i.e. it’s easier for the marshals if it’s a clear track with no circulating traffic) but why not restart the race with a rolling start? I like the V8 Supercars approach where they have a certain zone in which they cannot overtake, and leaders dictate when they actually wish to restart (within defined zones). It lets the track be cleared, maintains the running order, doesn’t waste laps behind the SC and the time for lapped cars to overtake…

      But we’re just fans, our opinions don’t matter, FIA/FOM/etc. have made this abundantly clear with their implementation of these changes, and Abu Double.

  31. This is a stupid rule, and stupidly implemented. It appears the SC will still exist, and it will be burning race laps away during the SC period until the SC car is pulled in and the cars line up on the grid for a restart. Why bother with the SC period at all? Just red flag the race to bring everybody back to the grid within whatever lap time delta Charlie & Co declare, and have them restart when the track is cleared for full course green. No safety car required. Of course, Mercedes wouldn’t like this…but if we’re making stupid and unsafe rule changes, we might as well not waste laps under the SC instead of green flag racing in the process.

    I’m guessing, since there’s no news, that most of next year’s calendar is still going to be raced for half points?

  32. petebaldwin (@)
    26th June 2014, 18:52

    Pffttt lol hahaha! What!? It’s just spectacular isn’t it how they completely fail to understand what fans want. I honestly don’t know what to say. Standing starts after a safety car….. wow.

  33. Hey @keithcollantine is there any chance you might resurrect the Todt approval polls? I’m guessing he’d do pretty poorly these days.

    It’s a shame the FIA election process is so rigged that the main challenger had to drop out of the race last year and allow Todt to walk to victory… after he’d promised on his initial 2009 campaign that he would only stand for one term. He lied about that, why should anyone believe him about anything else?

    1. @us_peter
      Bro we need another sex scandal !!!!!

  34. It seems a bit backward that the rules attempt to save cost, yet restrict the development time which teams that have low budgets need to develop the car, which in turn would allow them to be more competitive and attract sponsors and win more more prize money…

  35. Been an F1 fan since the 80’s, now not so much. F1 should be no holds barred flat about as face as you can go racing, yes a few rules for safety are needed but not things like this.

  36. I really can’t see the problem with this new rule. I think it’s positive rule change.

    1. With which one? The anti-aesthetical noses? Or with the safety car’s restarts? And how is it positive?

      1. Standing restarts.

        1. IN what way is it positive?

          In creating restart lap carnage?
          In killing teams strategy?
          In ruining drivers races if there stuck on old tyres or on the side of the grid covered in marbles?

          Im sorry but there is nothing positive about this rule change, It will do nothing for the racing, It adds nothing to strategy & is nothing but a gimmick done purely for ‘the show’ at the expense of the racing & sporting aspects of F1.

          This is a joke, A complete & utter joke & one which is seriously making me consider continuing my lifelone passion with F1 because I am getting sick of all these absurdly artificial & gimmickey rule changes.

          1. How often do you see first lap crashes these days? These are the best racing drivers in the world, they should cope with standing restart even with worn tyres.

            Safety car situation always affects race strategies, so nothing new there.

        2. @huhhii
          The purpose of reintroducing the safety car in 1993 (they were present in the 70’s) was to reduce the race interruptions, now with this “clever rule” the start will not be as important as it is now, that breathtaking special race moment where the drivers are 100% focus and their hearts beating at 130 will disappear, the risk of incidents will increase because they will simple lose their focus, i have a bad feeling that this risk will be exponential in some races (too many safety cars).

          1. @tifoso1989
            I think you’re over-exaggerating. Safety car situations are not that common anymore. This rule change could potentially enliven otherwise dull races.

            And I’m sure the rule will be scrapped if it gets absolutely ridicilous with multiple standing starts during one race. F1 has scrapped weird rules midway through the season in the past as well so I don’t see any problem with this rule tweak.

          2. @huhhii For me the problem with standing restarts is not the danger element or the demise of one team’s strategy. For me it is the continuation of the trend of downright unfairness to the leading car. DRS removed all skill of defensive driving; quite conversely the teams advise drivers not to fight and wear their tyres. Double points – which the brains of the idea, Bernie, conceded was “probably unfair” in an interview with Martin Brundle and now this.
            If a driver has earned a 30 second lead, for example Vettel at a few races last year, and a back marker had crashed with 5 laps to go and he lost the win I would feel cheated for him. I understand that the final laps would be immensely satisfying from a viewer’s point of view but I would feel the winner lucked into the victory. And herein lies the problem. The FIA are so interested in providing close quarters racing that they are doing it at the cost of the sport’s heritage and traditions. In the late 00’s the aerodynamic grip levels were not allowing this type of racing but there must be a middle ground where the fans have respect for the rulemaker and the rulemakers have respect for the sport.

          3. @huhhii

            “How often do you see first lap crashes these days?”
            Not many, However if its late in a race & a driver has been stuck Mid-pack most the race they are far more likely to try something a bit crazy to make up places.

            You see it in Indycar/Nascar a lot, Early starts/restarts tend to be fine but late race restarts nearly always cause more problems as drivers desperate to make up places try more aggressive moves.

            “These are the best racing drivers in the world, they should cope with standing restart even with worn tyres.”

            Your missing the point I was trying to make.
            A driver on worn tyres on a standing restart is going to get mugged by drivers on fresher tyres as drivers on fresh tyres are going to have so much more traction off the line, so much more braking through the 1st corners & so much more grip overall that anyone on worn tyres won’t stand a chance.

            And that in itself raises the likelihood of 1st lap crashes on the restart as drivers with no grip on worn tyres are in close proximity with cars on fresh tyres with tons of grip.

          4. @huhhii, ” How many 1st. lap crashes these days”?, I ask you ” how many 1st.laps are there these days?”

          5. @rbalonso
            I totally agree with you about double points and pretty much agree with you about the DRS. They are gimmick rules.

            But will the safety car situation be that much different next season? If Driver A has 30 second lead, he will lose the lead with current rules too. And if Driver A fails to get a good restart, does he deserve victory anymore? I don’t think so. Do you think the race should be red flagged if a leader has to retire with a technical problem because then the race would be “fair” to a leading driver? Technical problems, possibility of rain, backmarkers etc. can always be an unfair factor in F1. These kind of things are just part of the sport.

            @hohum
            I do agree with you that the tyre situation isn’t optimal. Maybe all drivers should be allowed to freely change tyres before the restart? They can change the tyres after red flag, so similar rule like that could remove tyre problem.

            IndyCar has a lot more crashing in general than F1. If something happens in IndyCar, it doesn’t automatically mean that the same will happen in F1.

          6. @huhhii For me technical problems, rain and backmarkers are fair as any driver could be subject to them. Technical problems are the fault of the team and the team alone, rain equally alters everyone’s race so I do not see these as fair or unfair factors. Moreover, they are certainly not manipulated by the rule makers to spice up the event. I think if we look back at safety car restarts in their current format we see very few positional changes by turn 1 of the green flag lap yet, with most standing starts we see many positional changes.

            I agree with you that if the Austrian GP last week had been red flagged around lap 35 with 4 cars within 5 seconds that it would make little difference and add to the excitement. However, if we look to the 2011 Monaco GP where the red flag came out near the end of the race with Button catching Alonso and Alonso catching Vettel then the race would be completely ruined (as it was by allowing them to change tyres imo).

            My concern is that it is part of a growing move to favour the guy behind assuming he is the one charging and will get some kind of reward. In essence to let the faster driver get by like DRS. Whilst this is a novel idea, practically it is unfair and unlikely to work favourably for any team. More to the point why does this aspect of the sport need to be changed after 65 years?

        3. And what if some drivers have no fresh tyres left?

          With a rolling start behind the SC tyre life isn’t much of a problem, But tyre life has a big effect from a standing start.

          Something else is the ERS charge.
          Building charge in these new cars takes longer & isn’t as easy as it was with KERS. If you have drivers with more charge in the battery they have an extra 160bhp to use off the line which will gain them a lot of places.

          There is so many negatives to this stupid rule which the vast majority of people seem to be against & I just don’t see a single positive.

          Im actually so angry about this that I may just not bother watching F1 anymore, Im getting really tired of the artificial nonsence that is constantly been added nowadays.

          1. @huhhii I agree with you.

  37. Daniel (@collettdumbletonhall)
    26th June 2014, 19:15

    I wish they would stop trying to impress the people who don’t watch F1 anyway. I was watching RUSH last night with friends and even though they enjoyed the film they generally dislike F1. They come up with the usual nonsense of motorsport not being a sport, driving an F1 car being easy, racing is all about the car and there’s no skill, it’s just cars going around in circles, there is no overtaking etc. They liked the idea of introducing reverse grids, easy passes with DRS, sprinklers on the circuit and double points to make it more exciting but they admitted they still wouldn’t watch the sport even if those things were involved.
    This is F1s problem. They keep trying to impress the people who will never watch the sport, have never watched a race but complain about it anyway.
    My friends who used to show a moderate interest in F1 now don’t bother because of all the stupid rule changes since the 2011 season. I am now the only one left but I think I’ll be calling it quits too.

    So @keithcollantine , fancy changing this to WECfanatic?

    1. people who “never watch” the sport are the ones making the rules is how I see it…

  38. So the format of rule making decisions appears to be this:

    Tuesday – propose new unnecessary rule out of nowhere to ‘improve the show’
    Wednesday – fans show widespread opposition to new rule
    Thursday – new rule is written into the regulations

    1. Wednesday – fans, drivers, and teams show widespread opposition to new rule.

      Do the drivers not mean anything to the FIA anymore?

      1. Daniel (@collettdumbletonhall)
        26th June 2014, 19:54

        The teams have an option to veto though yet they do nothing.

  39. Daniel (@collettdumbletonhall)
    26th June 2014, 19:32

    If I was a racing driver I don’t think I’d be that bothered about racing in F1 anymore. It’s not the pinnacle of motorsport anymore. Sure it’s fast but the rules are just a total joke.

    1. Already there are a lot of potential F1 drivers who aren’t bothering to get in anymore, and it will continue and worsen until things change.

  40. For me, it’s clear now. This is a fascist F1 sport. Forget the past, and the emotion that kept us watching F1 all our lives. From now on, FIA will say what F1 fans have to like or dislike, and what F1 emotion is and is not.

    Ofc, there are safety rules that are needed. But, when FIA says that aesthetic noses are an issue, confronting engineer’s solutions, or implement safety car’s restarts, then it’s true, we are living under a fascist power. And for that reason, the majority of F1 fans opinions, as @keithcollantine noticed (67% opposed), as of a relevant number of pilots (like Vettel, Nico, Button, etc), are not important any more.

    But my question is this: if the tv viewers is going down, how can this rules set the the results up? I’m probably missing something, beside the F1 fascist power control.

  41. HOW STUPID!! Honestly, people don’t want these rules. They are doing nobody any favours. Absolutely stupid. I hate these people who make these rules.

    So I suppose at the Abu Double GP next year we will see a standing restart with 6 laps to go, which will end up meaning somebody overtakes for the lead, gaining 50 points, and taking the championship by 1 point.

  42. Apparently they’ve also changed the rule that prevents any stupid rule changes for the following season after June 30 (or good ones, but that doesn’t apply here, and may explain why this one’s been hurried through). So the 2016 rules can’t be changed after March 1 2015.

    I’ve had a titfull of the meddling, and pathetic press and TV coverage lately. I’ll keep doing the predictions championship as that’s more enjoyable than sitting through the races thinking “why was I looking forward to this?”

    1. So basically if they make a horrific rule which turns out to be a mistake, then F1 is stuck with it for 2 years. How pathetic of them.

      If I were an F1 driver, this is the point where I would say “I’m out of here”, and leave F1 for absolutely anything (most likely a prototype series, just to rub it in).

  43. Daniel (@collettdumbletonhall)
    26th June 2014, 19:42

    Don’t forget the skid blocks. Another rubbish idea.

  44. The FIA might as well introduce F1 cars with guns and bombs on them…

  45. Daniel (@collettdumbletonhall)
    26th June 2014, 19:48

    Why aren’t the teams vetoing any of this?
    They always say, ‘We listen to the fans’ but they evidently don’t. I think Toto Wolff is the only one with his head screwed on.

  46. Daniel (@collettdumbletonhall)
    26th June 2014, 19:48

    Why aren’t the teams vetoing any of this?
    They always say, ‘We listen to the fans’ but they evidently don’t. I think Toto Wolff is the only one with his head screwed on.

  47. “The current parc ferme restrictions, under which teams are restricted in how they can modify their cars, will now begin after final practice instead of qualifying. The Friday night curfew will increase from six hours to seven next year, and will be extended by a further hour the year after.”

    WHY! This just makes the teams work even harder during the time they actually have to do work.

    “Teams will be allowed to use only four complete power units during the season instead of the five permitted this year. However the FIA noted this change will not be applied “if there are more than 20 races in a season”.”

    Guess teams will want 21 races then, as this will give them less races per engine.

    “Wind tunnel and computational fluid dynamic (CFD) testing will be subjected to tighter restrictions, as will real-world track testing.”

    Slow down car development why don’t you?

    “In-season track testing will be banned again”

    Why the hell do they keep banning it, complaining, introducing it, complaining, banning it, introducing it, and banning it? What on earth do they get out of doing that?

    And yet, everybody, nothing to do with a higher minimum weight, to even things out for the larger drivers and Hulks.

    1. @strontium, re less time for mechanics, this may make sense in one way, they will need more mechanics in the big teams so there will be employment openings for the mechanics made redundant when the smaller teams go broke.

      1. And this will make smaller teams go broke faster.

    2. I think the “4 engines a year unless we have over 20 races” rule is a ploy to get the teams on board with having more races.

      All the teams were against the proposed 2014 calendar with 21 races on it, because logistically it would exhaust the teams. There are currently 23 races scheduled for 2015. The teams ordinarily would say absolutely no way to that, but if the FIA dangles a carrot in the shape of an extra engine per year in front of them…..

  48. Oh yeah, just to top it off, lets make sure that the wheels are attached even stronger. Nice thought, but not needed. Wheels never come off now, so there’s no need to spend time securing something even further if it doesn’t need doing.

  49. Farcical.

  50. Daniel (@collettdumbletonhall)
    26th June 2014, 20:09

    If I had the money for a SKY subscription I would have definitely cancelled it now. That’s if I just bought it for the F1 anyway. I definitely won’t be going to any farces, oops sorry I mean races and I highly doubt I’ll be watching it on the TV either.
    I doubt viewing figures will decrease that much more but they certainly won’t be on the up either. Is anyone here actually going to stop watching?

  51. 1) Standing start rule is proposed
    2) fans are largely against it
    3) drivers are largely against it
    4) rule is confirmed
    5) ????????
    6) profit

    Seriously though, what an utter shambles. It’s not even funny any more. What’s the logic behind it??? Bernie trying to drive down the share prices for a buy-back? Has di Montezemolo arranged for Ferrari have secret Option 13 traction control next year to take advantage of standing restarts? are they trying to improve the all-important “show”? Or has everyone at the top table of this apparent sport lost their minds? I just don’t know/care any more. They just don’t listen to those who actually matter….

    1. It was never funny at all!!!

    2. Possibly Bernie wants to kill F1 so he can replace it with GP2. (who owns the title GP1 ?)

  52. If anyone ever wants to write a satirical book on management, I think an encyclopedia of F1 rules and how/why they’re implemented would suffice.

  53. Absolute joke and embarrassment. Whoever’s on the WMSC should hang their heads in shame. Nothing left of the F1 i loved.

  54. As I said the other day-
    Here’s something else to consider about the standing safety car restarts, Tyres.

    If you have some drivers on old tyres & others on newer tyres then those on older tyres are going to get mugged off a standing start & braking through the 1st corner.

    You could force everyone to make a stop under the SC to ensure everyone has fresh tyres, However that totally kills teams strategy & what happens if a driver doesn’t have any fresh tyres left?

    1. Well, there’s another thing to consider as well. Time.
      Getting all the cars back into position and ready for a standing restart will take instant organisation and time; maybe they will need to have a few goes at it to get everyone in the right place. And of course, standing restarts will breed more standing restarts. So imagine a race that’s already tight to the two hours, and then peppered with standing restarts that take it the two two hour mark well before all the laps have been run. Is the race shortened or declared at the two hour mark? Does it carry on with half the TV companies in the world breaking away for another programme?
      Somebody must have thought of this, mustn’t they?

      1. “Somebody must have thought of this, mustn’t they?”

        Considering that the people coming up with these rules don’t seem to have any brains, Probably not!

        1. With a safety car as it is, blokes can pit for fresh tires or take a chance and stay on the old ones and not pit, to gain track position. So nothing will change there.

          A race ‘peppered’ with restarts? Half the races don’t even see one safety car session, and the ones that do often see one only. The time to do a standing restart should only be about a minute longer than a rolling one.

  55. It was the FIA who made F1 a mess and they think they fixing it…. Cost cutting is just bull.

  56. I am not against change – I even welcomed the new eng… sorry, power units :-) and despite DRS and double points still being in force, I think this season has had some of the best racing F1 has produced in a long time. But I do have a problem with change for change’s sake. And these changes… Fake sparks are mandatory, FP3 is dead (who will risk damage and a pit lane start?) and the safety car is now reduced to a lottery generator. Imagine a mid/late race restart – every one who starts in the even numbered grid slots will have to start in the marbles… Is F1 was afraid of fans leaving, this did *not* help any…

  57. So how thick is the actual F1 rule book now……sadly getting bigger…..

  58. I read through here, on a forum of dedicated F1 lovers. We have our differences in a lot of debates and what is “for the good of the sport”. But I see that not a single person, not a single person! likes any of the proposed rules and I have not heard a driver or even team boss support them.

    Could someone please explain what is going on here and who is making these decisions? It’s to the point of being surreal.

    1. I’m fine with the 2015 changes. I still hate DRS and double points way way more than standing restarts.

  59. Regarding in race standing restarts. – This will end in tears. More than once, possibly repeatedly. To their credit the FIA gets things right sometimes and they usually err on the side of safety. Not this time.

    Not sure why, but the images of Spa ’98 keep popping into my mind every time I think about this subject. Will the in race standing restart rule apply to restarts during wet races as well? This is just one of the most unsafe and unfair rules to come out of the FIA ever. I wish to proven wrong about this.

    1. I just don’t see why a standing restart runs the risk of ending in tears moreso than the original race start…I don’t hear anybody crying for rolling first starts to F1 races.

  60. I’m really mad about the standing restarts. It’s insulting to any self-respecting Formula 1 fan.

    F1 is a weird thing: compared to for instance football or tennis, F1 is much more ‘exciting’. Yet F1 constantly tries to tweak the rules to become something it’s not and never will be: a show. The rule makers should respect F1’s sporting nature and focus on how to make it better as a sport, not as a show.

    Rules like this just prove that the rule makers are oblivious to any criticism and have no sense of shame whatsoever.

    1. I feel way more insulted about DRS and moreso double points and am completely fine with standing restarts until I hear a GOOD reason why I should be insulted rather than just being told I should be.

  61. Just who are they trying to please with these continual and insane rule changes? Most fans are fairly happy with the sport I would imagine & since F1 is rapidly disappearing behind a paywall there won’t be any casual fans soon. Nuts.

  62. I don’t know if I’ll be able to call myself an F1 fan any more after this.

    Now I’m really hoping Button retires at the end of this year. Then I won’t feel bad for not watching him.

  63. Again the FIA are screwing up F1. Bring back Max Mosley. He did get into weird orgies but at least he didnt shaft F1

    1. “At least he didn’t shaft F1” You could not be more wrong, all of this stupidity goes back to the deal Max did with pal and onetime business partner BE, selling him the control of F1 revenue for less than 10% of it’s value.

  64. I’m unsure if anybody has brought this up already or not, but what happens if somebody stalls on the restart grid?

    1. Start is aborted. They go around again. I’m not sure if it means another roll-off, but it will kill a lot of time either way. Another good reason to scrap this stupid idea.

      1. Or…perhaps since the field will all be together due to the restart, the marshals will have time to push the car off the track, possibly into the end of the pit lane, and possibly not even need to throw a local yellow as they will have over a minute before the cars come around to that spot again.

  65. More crap.

    1. Just to add, I actually hope that Nico or Lewis win the championship on the double points rule now just to show what a joke all of this is becoming.

      Why are the teams voting all this garbage through? We know the FiA is disfunctional but what are the teams playing at? That’s the big question here that probably opens up a can of dollar shaped worms.

  66. Oh no!!! Why do they bother to actually organise a race at all then? Just write all the drivers’ names into pieces of paper and have a draw in 20 different locations around the world. That way it will safe, cheap, exciting, the whole field will be bunched up together, and it will be a proper lottery, which the sport is turning to anyway.

  67. That’s it. I’m done. Bye bye F1.

  68. At the risk of sounding like a conspiracy theorist, part of me wonders if the FIA isn’t deliberately trying to sabotage and slow down F1 so that Formula E will seem that much more appealing as a successor for the “pinnacle of motorsport”.

    Oh, and those cost cutting measures won’t work. With only four engines, the manufacturers will be pumping huge sums of money into R&D to improve reliability. They will pass the cost on to the teams, and it will certainly end up costing more per unit, possibly more over the whole season.

    Same with the new nose cones, as a lot of teams are going to have to go back to the drawing board with their cars. Huge cost spikes happen every time the FIA changes the engine reliability and aero regulations.

    1. I think most of the money in R&D has been spent already in making these engines as reliable as they are and 5 down to 4 is going be be barely a blip on their radar. They won’t have to make as many engines. And I don’t see anything in the rules that is slowing F1 down, let alone to somehow make FE more appealing.

      As to the new noses. There was outrage at the appearance of the cars initially, and now this news has barely gotten a mention ie. folks get over some things pretty quickly. Many should be doing a jig at the prospect of no more ugly front ends.

  69. I know I’ve commented before, but I keep clicking on this article because I keep reading ‘FIA confirms you might need to stop watching F1 in 2015 altogether.’

    I’ve only just found out the confirmation of double points wasn’t a confirmation of me taking a day off as F1 fan that day (but I am still going to), I really hope the FIA manage to confirm some things that do put a hold on my sense of urgency to send the FIA a message by simply not watching F1.

    It seems that at this point, even with social media or even the internet in general or even media in general, the FIA just does not give a damn about the fans. I guess they will only learn if suddenly the FOM comes barging in that viewing numbers have dropped immensely overnight.

    As Alex Wurz tweeted; I love F1. From Sundays from 14h to 16h. The FIA, FOM and the teams are really doing their best to keep it that way.

  70. Well after having read many of the comments, I agree with about 90% of the ones that just plain call this STUPID in one way or another. Fer no.65 sort of expresses it all …. pasted in an excerpt here … It’s baffling. It’s shocking. It’s outrageous. It’s just embarrassing… I’m a fan of racing… not standing starts. I’m a fan of proper wheel to wheel racing, not motorway DRS-powered overtakes. I’m a fan of exciting championship battles, not someone lucking into it because one race is worth more than another. I’m a fan of F1. Thanks FER no.65, About the only thing I can figure is that too many cars are finishing the race so a few ACCIDENTS caused by standing restarts will attract all of those knuckle draggers from other alleged sports. Best I can come up with…. Thanks, RnR PS Why not go back a ways and have the drivers run up to their cars, jump in, start them and the race is ooooooN.

    1. The drivers will want to avoid accidents just as much in a standing restart as the very first start. They already know they shouldn’t do something foolish like trying to win the race in the first corner…the same will apply for them in a restart. Don’t get me wrong, I’m with you on DRS and double points etc but if you are still watching in spite of those things, as am I, then I don’t see why standing restarts is such a deal breaker. It’s not for me…but…to each their own.

      1. Oops that last line should read…’It’s not for YOU…but…to each their own.

  71. FIA, gimmickry actually makes people MORE bored. I am invested in this season despite the spectre of super-double-bonus-fun round and the presence of DRS, but I find it really hard to look on F1’s future with anything other than disappointment. My reaction to this news was really just sinking, bitter acceptance rather than disbelief- because I’ve come to expect you to screw up F1. It’s what you do. You fiddle where it isn’t needed while giving the fans next to no access. My interest is really waning. I don’t realistically see myself being able to stop watching cold turkey, but if in 5 years time I don’t follow the sport I have loved passionately for 10 years, I wouldn’t be at all surprised.

    I just wish there was an alternative, but although I like WEC I want my main dose of motorsport to be more accessible. I want engineering interest, so not Indycar. And I want the best drivers in the world. These are spread across lots of series, but it’s fair to say that F1 has a stronger collection than any other series. So what am I left with? I really, genuinely wish the 2009 break-away threat had taken place.

  72. I don’t know if the FIA realize this, but if they want to attract more casual fans then they don’t need gimmicks like DRS or double points at the last race or standing starts after safety cars. The problem lies with Formula 1 moving from the BBC to Sky. How are you going to attract new fans if you have to pay for a subscription you may not even want?

  73. they’re making the WEC awfully tempting!!

  74. The desperation to “gain fans” is leading to this madness. The fact is, there is a finite percentage of the populous that is interested in motorsport. Just like some people are interested in skydiving and others not. Some people are wired for art and others mathematics. I think we have reached the threshold of this audience limit for F1. The risk now is F1 losing fans because of stupid rule changes and dumb gimmicks.

  75. As dumb as the standing restarts are, the spark plates are actually more offensive. Why not now have cars inject raw fuel in the headers for flames? Points for drifting in corners? And now the idea of a “competition yellow” a la Nascar looks irresistible, what with a standing start on order. Dangerous debris will begin sprouting from the track like weeds.

  76. Nonsense!! No wonder the Indian government had the foresight to see that F1 is not a sport, but entertainment and had applied entertainment tax rates. With gimmicks like double points and standing restarts, F1 is increasingly becoming more stupid than watching a C grade Hollywood movie.

  77. So what happens on these new restarts then?

    Is the procedure the same as the start, with the 5 red lights, etc?
    What happens if someone stalls?
    Are they allowed to wave their arms and have the restart aborted? What happens then?
    Are the pit crews allowed out onto the circuit to restart the car?
    Can the marshalls give him a push start?
    Does the field go round again for another lap before lining up on the grid again?
    Will the safety car lead them round?
    If not, does the lead driver lead the pack round?
    If so is that still a safety car lap?
    If the stalled driver gets going again will they be able to reclaim their place on the ‘grid’ or do they have to (re)start from the back?
    If the stalled driver doesn’t get going can he restart from the pit lane?

    I understand that because the race has already started, then no, stalled cars probably won’t be allowed to continue, same as if they’d spun out on track, stalled, and can’t get going again. But by turning a rolling safety car restart into a standing start that is, to all intents and purposes, the same as the race start, with procedures presumable identical to the race start, and with lots of cars brimming with a massive amount of potential energy in close proximity, some of the rules are going to have to be re-drawn to cater for this kind of thing.

    But I bet they’ve not bothered to address any of these questions. They’ve maybe thought that these might occur, but I doubt they’ve given it any real serious thought. After all it’s been, what, a week since this was first announced and it’s already gone through.

    Standing restarts just add a whole load of unnecessary problems by implementing a solution to a problem that never ever existed.

    Once an F1 car gets going, it’s not designed to stop. The one time it does stop after it gets going, it’s for a very short period of time to get new tyres, and if anything goes wrong during that brief stop, the car is surrounded by highly trained professionals who can get the thing going again.

    Stopping the entire field at potentially 90% race distance, having the ones at the front wait stationary at the front of the grid for up to 45 seconds when every component is running at its hottest, when many parts of the car will already be towards the end of their life, or worn, or bubbling over, or stressed, or already broken or damaged, with tyres that will be well past their best…

    …it’s idiotic.

    But then, I’m not sure what we were supposed to expect.

    1. I doubt they just thought of this a week ago, and implemented it this week, without a lot of consulting with the teams and a lot of thought going back for a time period that we obviously had not been made privy to until now. And if the extra stationary period is problematic in the ways you suggest, the teams will have to adapt and make their cars a little more robust to handle the new reality.

  78. help me obi wan kenobi you’re my only hope

  79. I have no words.

  80. F1 is finished! Somewhere somehow things are not looking rosy at all so it gets worse by the day. FIA , FOM or whoever in charge now is so desperate they are resorting to any cheap tricks they can find, good lord. Sponsors will run away and even more fans will disappear. I’ve already lost interest with the new ruling and I think they don’t want us fans anymore. It’s like telling us ‘take it or ****off! mates.

  81. so basically a safety car will now be a red flag. Stupid logic.

    1. I doubt it. Red flags are rare and when they are needed result in many minutes of delay from either there being so many cars and so much debris covering the whole width of the track from a collision that there is no clear lane for them to drive around behind a safety car, or if the rain is so heavy and projected to last that way long enough. A standing restart should only take a minute longer than a rolling one, and the cars will not have been shut off for at least 10 to 20 minutes like with most red flags situations.

  82. I’m just only now able to get to my computer and don’t have time to read all the comments other than scanning the ones from the first page, and if those are any indication that all the pages have posters against the idea of standing restarts, seemingly without exception, I’ll be the exception.

    I don’t have a problem with it. I have a far bigger problem with double points especially, and DRS next. I think standing restarts are going to be exciting, just as the standing start is one of the most exciting aspects of the races. I just hope and expect that the crews won’t be coming out to the cars like at the very start of the races, as that kind of pause would be detrimental mid-race.

  83. Loving this rule change. Finally we wont have races where the Safety Car leads the most laps. It’ll make it safer for marshals clearing up the incident too

    1. @snowman-john – that’s not how it works. The safety car will still be used but at the end of the SC period there will be a standing restart instead of a rolling one.

    2. What race did you see where the SC led the most laps? And standing restarts have nothing to do with cleaning the track. If the race should be red-flagged, it will be. This change simply means that every single restart may be extended in time massively by virtue of the fact that there must now be a line up, a roll-off, a line up again and a start, with the attendant high risk of a t1 crash, and repeating the process over again. I promise that there will be one 15 minute or longer segment in a race when we have to go through this nonsense because of an SC period that could have been sorted out in a few laps, and people will not be happy about it. People will not be happy when the battle for the lead is spoiled because the clown in P5 smashing into the back of the leaders in turn 1 on a restart. Well, the fans who watch for wrecks will love it, but these are not what one calls motorsports fans.

      1. @dmw I haven’t read exactly how this works but are you sure it will still be a line-up, a roll-off, a line-up again, and then the restart? I may be wrong but I doubt that is necessary, nor that they would want that kind of downtime mid-race. I envision the safety car pulls off, they line up in the order when the full-track caution and safety car came out, the red lights go on in the usual way, and then go off and they’re racing again. Will it not just merely be a substitution of rolling start for standing start? They won’t need to do a warmup lap like at the very start.

        I don’t know why you think there is any more risk of crashing on a restart than for the start itself, and the reason that standing starts are exciting is because of that very risk and as usual it will be up to the drivers to not try to win the race in the first corner.

        1. So, if having a standing restart is “good for the show”, let’s have one after EVERY lap, whether there’s been an incident or not. After all, you couldn’t logically approve of having just a few unnecessary first corner pile-up opportunities without being even more in favour of having lots of them, could you?

          1. @Johnny Five You speak of logic yet your comment contains none.

  84. All these changes are sickening, whats the point in even having a safety car now so? surely it makes more sense to just have a red flag every time there’s an accident.

    Formula 1 must be the only sport that makes changes for entertainment purposes, eventually there just going to drive the sport into the ground.

  85. If there are standing restarts why is there a need of a Saftey car. I mean in case of an accident, they can red flag the race and the drivers can come back and line up on the grid and start the race whenever the track is cleared. That way laps are not lost and they can try to finish the race in the stipulated time.

    If the debries are on the start finish area. The cars can stop a little behind until the grid is cleared of the debris.

    all in all i am not a fan of standing restarts. given incidents like Crashgates et al, People might come up with ideas to create Safety car situations to gamble on the starting restarts to gain positions. IT would be a good thing for Teflonso as he is good with both standing Starts and Crashgates !!!!!!

    1. I imagine that red flagging a race is the last thing they would want to do and only occurs when absolutely necessary as it would be far better to let the cars keep running and keep airflow into the air box and side pods and brake ducts for cooling purposes. They could/should still be able to take advantage of the safety car period to pit, which is often exciting in terms of some drivers being able to time that or be lucky in terms of their location on the track when the safety car was called. I also think you are being overly dramatic to suggest Crashgate scenarios as most driver’s and teams don’t play that way and it would likely be seen through and heavily penalized. Might a driver decide not to pit when others are, and therefore restart higher up on the grid? Sure, that’s possible, just like it is with rolling restarts. I just don’t see a driver or team creating some scenario on the gamble of gaining positions on a standing restart, when said gain is no guarantee and could result in a loss in position just as easily.

  86. Thought motor racing was supposed to be a sport, so what is happening to the principles of sportsmanship.
    The drivers strive to race fairly, the teams strive to stay within the rules, but the FIA are determined to make the competition unfair. Double points for particular races is unfair, but standing starts after safety cars is extremely unfair on the leaders of the race, and creates unnecessary danger for the drivers. Race leaders can already see their lead wiped out even with rolling restarts so why detriment them further. It will also increase the likelihood of further accidents and yet more safety cars. Not good for spectators
    F1 not a sport, but a money making business

Comments are closed.