FIA Imposes New Driving Standards in F1

The 2010 Formula One season was full of controversial moves, be them on the track or outside it. Team orders, careless driving, pit lane incidents, and the list could go on, all of them sparked plenty of criticism inside the F1 paddock in regards to the existing rules imposed by the FIA. That's right, whenever there was a problem with a backmarker taking too much time to let a leading driver pass him or two drivers battling for position in the pit lane, the blame always rested within the ruling body.

Well, the FIA took notice of that and used some of the controversial moments of 2010 to provide the series with a new sporting set of regulation for the season to come. Most of you will likely take little to figure out the events which the new rules were inspired from, but we'll just go ahead and make it simpler for you.

Remember the way Michael Schumacher defended against Rubens Barrichello (and nearly sent the Brazilian driver into the pit wall at an extremely high speed) in Hungary? That will no longer be permitted starting from 2011, as the FIA moved to insure cleaner racing from now on.

“Manoeuvres liable to hinder other drivers, such as more than one change of direction to defend a position, deliberate crowding of a car beyond the edge of the track or any other abnormal change of direction, are not permitted,” says the new rulebook.

Remember Fernando Alonso's attempt to pass Renault's Robert Kubica and eventually doing it while shortcutting a chicane in the British Grand Prix? Of course, the Ferrari-an was penalized for his mistake afterwards, but the new rules state that harsher penalties will be handed to driver in the future.

“Drivers must use the track at all times. For the avoidance of doubt the white lines defining the track edges are considered to be part of the track but the kerbs are not. A driver will be judged to have left the track if no part of the car remains in contact with the track. Should a car leave the track for any reason the driver may rejoin. However, this may only be done when it is safe to do so and without gaining any advantage.”

Remember the incident involving Mark Webber's flying RB6 after hitting the gearbox of backmarker Heikki Kovalainen in the European Grand Prix at Valencia? According to the new rulebook, backmarkers will from now on have to react much quicker in letting the drivers in the leading lap pass them.

“As soon as a car is caught by another car which is about to lap it during the race the driver must allow the faster driver past at the first available opportunity.”

“If the driver who has been caught does not allow the faster driver past, waved blue flags will be shown to indicate that he must allow the following driver to overtake. Any driver who is deemed to be ignoring the waved blue flags will be reported to the stewards of the meeting.”

And finally, we won't share any more examples with you on this topic simply because there were so many of them, but based on the multiple overtaking attempts in the pit lane in 2010, such maneuvers will be completely forbidden and punished as such next season.

“Any car(s) driven to the end of the pitlane prior to the start or re-start of a practice session, or any car(s) required to stop at the pit exit during a safety car period, must form up in a line in the fast lane and leave in the order they got there unless another car is unduly delayed.”