Before we go over it, you must know that the 2011 season will not bring any dramatic novelties in terms of tire rules, the most notable modifications revolving around the tire sets used in qualifying. For the entire duration of the weekend, each team will be handed 11 sets of tires per driver.
During the Friday action, each driver will have 3 sets of dry weather tires at their disposal, but one of them will have to be returned at the end of each practice session. The other 8 sets of tires are then available for the remainder of the weekend – Saturday and Sunday action – one of which must be returned before the qualifying session kicks off.
As in 2010, each driver will be forced to use both types of dry weather tires on Sunday afternoon – unless rains starts to become a factor – no matter if the race is suspended at any point, otherwise the FIA will enforce penalties as follows:
“If the race is suspended and cannot be re-started, thirty seconds will be added to the elapsed time of any driver who was unable to use both specifications of dry-weather tyre during the race. However, any driver who completes the race without using both specifications of dry-weather tyre will be excluded from the race results,” says the FIA.
In addition to the new tire rules, the FIA also confirmed that the lifetime of a gearbox in 2011 will be of 5 races, while teams will be allowed to make use of one extra gearbox without risking a grid penalty.
“For 2011 only, except during the last Event of the Championship season, each driver will be permitted to use a replacement gearbox without incurring a penalty the first time this becomes necessary during the season. Under such circumstances the replacement gearbox will only be required to complete the remainder of the Event in question,” added the F1 rulebook.
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