FIA Closes Loopholes: Stricter F1 Rules for 2025

The FIA tightens F1 rules for 2025, targeting damaged cars on track and pit lane starts to prevent unfair advantages and safety risks.

The FIA has introduced several changes to the F1 Sporting Regulations for 2025. The first concerns damaged cars on track, adding to the existing cases that allow for the disqualification of a car deemed dangerous or non-compliant with the regulations.

Until 2024, the official Technical Regulations stated: “If a driver has serious mechanical problems, they must leave the track as soon as it is safe to do so.” However, Sergio Pérez’s penalty in Montreal for driving a damaged car led to a revision of this rule.

The new regulation is significantly longer and details various scenarios that could force a car to stop after sustaining damage. Most importantly, it grants the race director and their deputy the authority to halt a car on track.

“Any driver whose car has significant and obvious damage to a structural component, putting it in a condition that poses an immediate risk to the driver or others, or whose car has a major failure or defect that means it cannot reasonably return to the pit lane without unnecessarily hindering another competitor or disrupting the competition, must leave the track as soon as it is safe to do so.

“At the sole discretion of the race director, if a car is deemed to have significant and obvious damage to a structural component, or a major failure or defect, the competitor may be informed that the car must leave the track as soon as it is safe to do so.”

Furthermore, the rule regarding cars choosing to start from the pit lane after an incident or damage, which previously allowed them to undergo repairs until the last minute before rejoining, has been revised.

From now on, in the case of a second start, it will no longer be possible to line up at the end of the pit lane at the last moment while other drivers complete their formation lap. This formation lap will be mandatory for all drivers, including those starting from the pit lane, if they position themselves at the end of the straight within the final five minutes before the restart.

This change addresses several loopholes in the regulations. The first was the ability for these drivers to gain positions if those ahead of them had to pit after the restart. The second was the fuel advantage gained by completing one fewer lap than the rest of the field.

The third loophole concerned races starting behind the safety car due to wet conditions. Drivers starting from the pit lane could have waited an extra lap before choosing a different compound if the track dried, giving them an advantage once on track, as those who had already started would have been forced to switch to the optimal tires later.

Category	Change
Damaged Cars	Expanded disqualification criteria for unsafe or non-compliant cars.
Damaged Cars	Race director can now directly stop a car with significant structural damage.
Pit Lane Starts	Mandatory formation lap for all drivers, including those starting from the pit lane.
Pit Lane Starts	No last-minute pit lane exits before a second start.
Pit Lane Starts	Closing loopholes on fuel advantage and tire strategy in wet conditions.