20/10/2022
NEWS STORY
Following the confusion over grid penalties at Spa and Monza, the FIA has tweaked the process by which penalties are applied.
With several drivers taking on new engine components and others penalised for misdemeanours, chaos reigned, and at Monza, in particular, it was almost four hours after qualifying that the FIA was able to confirm the provisional grid.
At one stage, Pierre Gasly took to social media to ask if anyone knew where he was starting from, on a day pole-man Charles Leclerc was the only driver starting from the position in which he had actually qualified.
Following Wednesday's meeting of the World Motor Sport Council, the Sporting Regulations have been tweaked in a bid to end the confusion, much of which centred on those drivers facing a grid drop of 15 places.
Yesterday's amendment to Article 42.2 will now see those drivers given a 15-place penalty receive a straightforward 15-place demotion.
42.2 The grid for the race will be based on the Qualifying Classification defined in Article 39.3. Starting from a nominally empty grid, drivers will be allocated their grid positions in the following sequence of steps:
a) Classified drivers who have received 15 or less cumulative grid penalties will be allocated a temporary grid position equal to their Qualifying Classification plus the sum of their grid penalties. If two or more drivers share a temporary grid position, their relative order will be determined in accordance with their Qualifying Classification, with the slowest driver keeping their allocated temporary grid position, and the other drivers getting temporary grid positions immediately ahead of them.
b) Following the allocation of temporary grid positions to penalised drivers in accordance with (a), unpenalised classified drivers will be allocated any unoccupied grid position, in the sequence of their Qualifying Classification.
c) Following the allocation of grid positions to unpenalised classified drivers, penalised drivers with a temporary grid position, as defined in (a), will be moved up to fill any unoccupied grid position.
d) Classified drivers who have accrued more than 15 cumulative grid position penalties, or who have been penalised to start at the back of the grid, will start behind any other classified driver. Their relative position will be determined in accordance with their Qualifying Classification.
e) Unclassified drivers who have been permitted to participate by the Stewards will be allocated grid positions behind all the classified drivers. Their relative positions will be determined in accordance with Article 39.3 (b).
Furthermore, with Article 28.3 now removes the need for drivers with penalties exceeding 15 places to start from the rear of the grid.
Finally, following the incident at Silverstone when George Russell climbed from his car to check on the condition of Guanyu Zhou following his start-line crash, and subsequently returned hoping to restart the race, the rules appertaining to General Safety now note that abandoned cars cannot typically be recovered.
26.18 Except during a sprint session suspension or race suspension, any car abandoned on the circuit by its driver, even temporarily, shall be considered as withdrawn from the session. In exceptional circumstances, cars abandoned on the circuit during a sprint session suspension or race suspension may be allowed to participate when that session resumes, provided they were not abandoned because of a mechanical issue, car damage or in order to gain an advantage.