Formula One announces further changes to the Technical, Financial and Sporting Regulations

Ahead of this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix, this year’s third meeting of the Formula 1 Commission was held today which has confirmed some modifications to Formula One’s Sporting and Technical Regulations.

F1 boss Stefano Domenicali, FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem, F1 Motorsports boss Ross Brawn and all 10 team principals gathered on Friday morning to discuss a series of topics.

One of the key matters was the rapidly increasing inflation rates that have affected the Formula One teams. From 2021 onwards, teams have to adhere to a budget cap, and the FIA felt that the inflation „creates a risk of noncompliance with the Financial Regulations if actions are not taken.”

The sport’s governing body has stated that „following consultation with the Financial Advisory Committee over recent weeks, the FIA brought a proposal to the Commission that was approved by the required majority with support from the FIA, Formula 1 and nine of the teams.

„The proposal recognises the unexpected increase of costs incurred by teams in 2022 thereby permitting indexation at a limited rate of 3.1% (which takes into account the original 3% inflation threshold already set out in the regulations) and permitting compounding of this rate as from 2023. This will preserve the long-term integrity of the Financial Regulations.„

Regaring the Technical Regulations, the Commission has also confirmed changes with the vertical oscillation of the cars standing in the centre of attention. Originally, the sport wanted to introduce measures at the French Grand Prix to control the propoising, but their introduction has been put back.

„Following feedback and consultation with the teams and in order to allow the teams to make necessary updates to the plank and skid assemblies, which will ensure a fair application of the metric used to measure this oscillation across all cars, the implementation of the draft Technical Directive issued to the teams prior to the British Grand Prix will come into effect from the Belgian Grand Prix.„

The Commission has also confirmed that the sport is set to introduce further changes to limit the vertical oscillation of the cars as of 2023: „several proposed actions to address this issue in the 2023 Technical Regulations were also discussed, with clear directions to be taken to the Technical Advisory Committee.”

The Commission has also confirmed changes to the Sporting Regulation which will allow pre-season testing to take place outside of Europe, four days prior to the first race of the season.

The 2026 power unit regulations were also discussed by the Commission. Although the final package of regulations have not been confirmed, the Commission disclosed that the final version is close to finalization.

FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem commented: “We are now in the middle of an historic year for Formula 1, with the introduction of completely new regulations which we have seen so far to have been a great success, most clearly shown at Silverstone where many cars were battling for top positions right up until the end of the race.

„We will continue to develop these regulations in this positive direction, and we will also keep on raising the bar with regard to safety.”