Rule changes
Sporting regulations
At the June 2012 meeting of the World Motor Sport Council, the FIA announced plans to introduce cost-control measures for the 2013 season, which would be policed by the FIA pending the agreement of the teams.[88] This follows a failed attempt by former FIA President Max Mosley to introduce a budget cap for the 2010 season,[89] and the withdrawal of Ferrari, Torro Rosso, Sauber and Red Bull from the Formula One Teams Association in December 2011 over the implementation of the Resource Restriction Agreement,[90][91] a voluntary agreement between teams to limit costs in the sport.[92]
The rules governing the use of the Drag Reduction System (DRS) will be altered. Where drivers were free to use the system at will during free practice and qualifying, from 2013, the use of DRS will be restricted to the designated DRS zone in a bid to improve safety.[93] In response to this, the FIA announced plans to include two DRS zones at every circuit on the 2013 calendar where it was feasible to do so.[94]
The FIA is seeking to remove the rules of "force majeure" to clarify scrutineering procedures.[95] Under the rules of force majeure, cars must be able to return to the pits under their own power during qualifying or else risk exclusion from the results. However, if a team can adequately demonstrate that circumstances beyond their control forced them to stop a car on the circuit before it could return to the pits, then the rules of force majeure dicatate that the team and driver in question are exempt from any exclusion. Under new regulations, force majeure would no longer be recognised as a valid reason for stopping a car. These changes were first proposed in the aftermath of the 2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, when Red Bull Racing instructed Sebastian Vettel to stop on the circuit after qualifying. Although race stewards initially accepted the team's explanation that the order came because of an imminent technical fault that threatened lasting damage to Vettel's engine, it was later discovered that Vettel had insufficient fuel in his car at the time and had been ordered to pull over so as to preserve the mandatory one litre sample required for testing at the end of qualifying. As a result, Vettel was excluded from the results,[96] and the changes to force majeure were put forward.
Following a crackdown on driving standard by race stewards in 2012, the FIA has sought to introduce a "penalty points" system of enforcing driving standards modelled on the points system used for road-going drivers' licences worldwide. Under the system, driving infringements would be assigned a points value that would be deducted from a driver's Super Licence when they commit an infraction. When a driver accumulates a pre-determined number of points, they face an automatic ban from racing.[97]
The practice of mid-season testing, which returned to Formula One in 2012 after having been banned in 2009,[98] will be discontinued in 2013 as part of cost-cutting initiatives.[99]
Teams will be faced with an increased entry fee for the season.[100] Whereas entry fees had previously been fixed at EUR€309,000 (USD$396,637) for all teams, from 2013, entry fees will be based on the World Championship points a team scored during the previous season. Teams will now pay a basic entry fee of USD$500,000 (EUR€389,525), plus USD$5,000 (EUR€3,895) per point scored. The reigning Constructors' champions will pay at a premium rate of USD$6,000 (EUR€3,674) per point scored. Early projections predicted that the 2012 World Constructors' Champions would be faced with an entry fee of over USD$4,500,000 (EUR€3,505,725).
Technical regulations
Changes to the rules in 2012 resulted in the development of a "platypus" nose, with teams designing cars with a visible change in height along the nose assembly of the car.[101] The design attracted criticism, with Red Bull Racing driver Mark Webber labelling the cars "ugly"[102] and Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali calling them "not that pretty".[103] At the 2012 Australian Grand Prix, Charlie Whiting—the FIA technical delegate—announced that although the changes to the sporting regulations planned for the 2014 season would effectively remove the "platypus" effect, the sport's governing body is planning to phase the stepped nose out for 2013.[104] The FIA later accepted a proposal that would allow teams to cover up the stepped nose with a "modesty plate", a panel designed to obscure the step without fundamentally altering the aerodynamic profile of the car or offering any aerodynamic gain itself.[105]
The FIA will completely overhaul testing procedures for front wings in 2013, introducing a more-comprehensive and strenuous series of tests designed to root out the practice of exploiting flexible bodywork regulations.[106]
The "double-DRS" system, first developed by Mercedes for the W03 in 2012 will be banned in 2013.[107] The device, which used a series of channels that ran through the car to create a stalling effect over the front wing when the rear wing Drag Reduction System was open, thereby cancelling out the downforce generated under normal conditions, would allow the car to achieve a higher top speed and better stability in fast corners.[108] The system was the subject of several legal challenges early in the 2012 season,[109][110][111] and rival team Lotus developed a similar system of their own[112] before teams agreed to a ban in July 2012.[107] However, while the regulations specifically banned the system developed by Mercedes, they make no provision for the variant developed by Lotus.[105]
Other changes
The Sixth Concorde Agreement—the contract between the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA),[113] the Formula One teams[5] and the Formula One Administration[5] which dictates the terms by which the teams compete in races and take their share of the television revenues and prize money—which was first ratified by teams in 2009 expires at the end of 2012, necessitating the creation of the Seventh Concorde Agreement.[5] As part of the renewed Agreement, the commercial rights to the sport were to be floated on the Singapore Stock Exchange;[114] however, in June 2012 the planned floatation was delayed, with weak markets, uncertainty within Europe over the continent's economic future, and Facebook's disappointing IPO cited as reasons for the delay.[115]
The sport's decision-making process will be restructured.[116] Prior to 2013, any decision to change the sporting or technical regulations required the agreement of at least 70% — or nine votes — of the teams in order for those changes to be accepted. From 2013 onwards, those changes will only need a 51% majority — seven teams — in order to be approved. The Technical and Sporting Working Groups, the committees responsible for deciding upon the technical and sporting regulations, will also be disbanded in favour of a "Strategy Working Group" that will oversee both technical and sporting regulations and will be made up of representatives from each of the teams that scored points in the previous season's championship, the FIA, Formula One Management, one engine supplier and six event promoters. FIA President Jean Todt described the changes as necessary and designed to give each of the stakeholders in the sport a proportionate representation in deciding the future of Formula One.[116]
