Crash tests
There will be tougher side impact testing and new cars must now pass all required FIA crash tests prior to any on-track testing.
Adjustable rear wings
Under new moveable bodywork regulations, drivers of suitably equipped cars can adjust the rear wing from the cockpit, altering its angle of incidence through a set range. (The moveable front wing, used in 2010, has been dropped.) The system’s availability is electronically governed – it can be used at any time in practice and qualifying, but during the race can only be activated when a driver is less than one second behind another car at pre-determined points on the track. The system is then deactivated once the driver brakes. In combination with KERS, it is designed to boost overtaking. Also like KERS, it isn’t compulsory.
No F-ducts or double diffusers
Any system, device or procedure which uses driver movement as a means of altering the aerodynamic characteristics of the car is prohibited from 2011 – that means no F-ducts. Tightening of the regulations on stepped floors means double diffusers in their original sense are also banned.
No blown diffusers
The FIA is clamping down on engine mapping and exhaust positioning to minimise designers’ use of exhaust gases in a car’s aerodynamics, effectively outlawing blown diffusers.
KERS
A badge of honour for some, a bugbear for others on its debut in 2009, KERS – or Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems – have been reintroduced in 2011 after the teams mutually agreed to suspend their use in 2010. KERS take the waste energy generated under braking and turns it into additional power. This is then made available to the driver in fixed quantities per lap via a steering wheel-mounted ‘boost button’. The systems are essentially the same as those seen in ’09, with no increase in the maximum permitted power (though that could change in subsequent seasons). The challenge for the engineers this time round is packaging. Last time KERS was run, refuelling was legal. Now, with it banned, fuel tanks are larger and finding room to accommodate battery packs etc is not as easy. Hence don’t be surprised if bodywork has grown in places, relative to 2010. On the plus side, minimum car weight has been upped by 20kg to 640kg, meaning larger drivers don’t pay the weight-distribution penalty they once did in a KERS-equipped car.
Wheel tethers
In response to several stray wheels over the course of the 2010 season, teams must now place a second tether on every wheel to improve safety. The two tethers must be contained in separate suspension members.
Gearboxes
As part of the sport’s cost-saving and environmental initiatives, gearboxes now need to last for five race weekends, instead of the previous four.
Tyres
Following Bridgestone’s decision to withdraw at the end of 2010 after 13 years in Formula One, Pirelli take over as the sport’s sole tyre supplier. The Italian company, last part of F1 in 1991, will provide all teams with rubber for the next three years.
Tyre allocation has been reduced for 2011, with 11 rather than 14 sets of dry-weather tyres available to each driver per race weekend. From 2012 all tyres allocated to a driver may now be used on the first day of practice. Formerly only three sets were permitted on the opening day of the Grand Prix weekend.
If a driver fails to use both specifications of dry-weather tyres during a (dry) race, they will be excluded from the results. If a (dry) race is suspended and can’t be restarted, and a driver has failed to use both specifications, 30 seconds will be added to the driver’s race time.
Team curfew
A clampdown on long working hours has been introduced, with a curfew on team personnel connected with the operation of the cars. They will not be allowed into the circuit between midnight and 6am when practice is scheduled to start at 10am the following day, or between 1am and 7am when practice starts at 11am. Each team is permitted four individual exceptions to this rule during the season.
Team orders
The clause in the sporting regulations banning team orders has been removed.
Testing
Testing can only take place at FIA-approved sites and, ahead of a session, teams must inform the governing body of their schedule so that an observer can be appointed if deemed necessary. All cars must be fitted with the standardised, FIA-approved Electronic Control Unit during tests.
In addition to the established pre-season tests, from 2012 one three-day test will be carried out during the season. Formerly there was none.
If a team declares that one of their current race drivers is to be substituted by a driver who has not participated in an F1 race in the two previous calendar years, one day of track testing will now be permitted, on an approved circuit not being used for a Grand Prix in the current season. This is to avoid scenarios such as that seen in 2009 when Jaime Alguersuari made his Formula One debut with Toro Rosso having only previously driven an F1 car in straight-line testing.
Driving etiquette
Drivers may no longer leave the track without a justifiable reason, i.e. cutting a chicane on reconnaissance laps or in-laps to save time and fuel, and drivers may no longer move back onto the racing line having moved off it to defend a position.
Safety car
During a safety-car period, all lapped cars will be allowed to unlap themselves and then join the back of the pack, ensuring a clean re-start without slower cars impeding those racing for the leading positions.
Nico Rosberg, Mercedes GP Petronas, Pitstop
Practice and qualifying
At each Grand Prix meeting all race drivers may participate in two one and a half-hour practice sessions on Friday (Thursday at Monaco), a one-hour session on Saturday morning and a qualifying session on Saturday afternoon. While individual practice sessions are not compulsory, a driver must take part in at least one Saturday session to be eligible for the race.
Saturday’s one-hour qualifying session is split into three distinct parts, each with multiple drivers on track simultaneously, and each with the drivers running as many laps as they want:
Q1: All 26 cars may run laps at any time during the first 20 minutes of the hour. At the end of the first 20 minutes, the eight slowest cars drop out and fill the final eigth grid places.
Q2: After a seven-minute break, the times will be reset and the 16 remaining cars then will then run in a 15-minute session – again they may complete as many laps as they want at any time during that period. At the end of the 15 minutes, the eight slowest cars drop out and fill places 11 to 18 on the grid.
Q3: After a further eight-minute break, the times are reset and a final 10-minute session will feature a shootout between the remaining 10 cars to decide pole position and the starting order for the top 10 grid places. Again, these cars may run as many laps as they wish.
If a driver is deemed by the stewards to have stopped unnecessarily on the circuit or impeded another driver during qualifying, his times may be cancelled.
107% qualifying rule
During the first phase of qualifying, any driver who fails to set a lap within 107 percent of the fastest Q1 time will not be allowed to start the race. However, in exceptional circumstances, which could include a driver setting a suitable time during practice, the stewards may permit the car to start.
Points system
The top ten finishers in each Grand Prix score points towards both the drivers’ and the constructors’ world championships, according to the following scale: 1st 25 points, 2nd 18 points, 3rd 15 points, 4th 12 points, 5th 10 points, 6th 8 points, 7th 6 points, 8th 4 points, 9th 2 points and 10th 1 point. (The only exception to this is when a race is suspended and cannot be restarted. If less than 75 per cent of the race distance has been completed half points are awarded, and if less than two laps have been completed, no points are awarded.)
Race suspensions
There will now be a maximum race time of four hours to ensure that a lengthy suspension of a race does not result in a race that could run up to eight hours if left unregulated. Cars which were in the pit lane when the race was suspended will now be allowed to re-join the cars on the grid in the position they were in at the time of the race suspension.
Penalties
Stewards now have the power to impose a wider range of penalties for driving and other rule transgressions. Added to their armoury are time penalties, the right to exclude drivers from race results, or suspend them from subsequent events.