McLaren Star® International
Presents:
"2003 New Changes In The Rules"
The FIA Formula One Commission met in London today (October 28th, 2002) and decided on the following regulation changes: Qualifying
There will be two qualifying sessions – Friday and Saturday, both 13:00-14:00.
Qualifying will be one (only flying lap) for each car, cars to run one at a time.
The running order on Friday will follow the Championship (previous year at first race), with Championship leader going out first, 2nd in Championship running second, and so on.
The running order on Saturday will be determined by the Friday times (which do not count for the grid) so that the fastest on Friday runs last on Saturday, the second fastest second last, and so on. Practice Schedule
This will remain Friday: 1100-1200 and Saturday: 0900 to 0945 and 1015 to 1100 (with qualifying from 1300-1400 both days, as above). Testing
Provided that by 15 December, at least three teams undertake to the FIA not to run more than 10 car-days of private testing between 1 March and 1 November, the teams which have give this undertaking will be able to test at each event from 0900-1100 on Friday and may use their spare car and their test driver during this period. World championship points
From 2003 points will be awarded down to 8th place on the scale 10:8:6:5:4:3:2:1 (previously to 6th place on the scale 10:6:4:3:2:1. Team orders
Team orders which interfere with the race result are prohibited. The 2003 Belgian Grand Prix
In the absence of unanimous agreement by the teams to run at the 2003 Belgian Grand Prix without tobacco advertising, this event has been removed from the World Championship calendar. Tyres
Each team will be allowed to use two different dry tyres at each event (previously each tyre company could supply only the same two dry tyres to each of its teams). Teams will continue to be limited to 10 sets of dry tyres per event. Only one type of wet tyres to be used per event. While these changes will undoubtedly make the series more interesting, proposals such as driver swapping, shared components and ballast were unsurprisingly not approved. It remains to be seen what affect the approved changes will have in terms of livening up what many believe has become an increasingly stagnant and highly expensive sport.