FIA introduces mid-season rule change after Aston Martin protest over Chinese GP

The FIA ​​updated Formula 1’s sporting regulations mid-season after the rejection of Aston Martin’s protest at the Chinese Grand Prix and the exposure of a loophole in the rules regarding penalties.

The first incident that caused some of the recalls occurred during qualifying at the Shanghai International Circuit. Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz skidded, damaging his front wing and ending the session with a red flag. Despite this, Sainz managed to restart the car on his own, return to the pits and, after some quick repairs, continue the qualifying session.

The cause of the confusion was Rule 39.6, which previously required any driver whose car stopped on the track and caused a red flag to cease further participation in the session. Aston Martin therefore lodged a protest against Sainz’s continued participation in the qualifying round, citing a breach of this rule. However, the race stewards dismissed the protest at the time.

In response to this situation, the FIA ​​has refined Article 39.6. The modification clearly states that while a driver whose car stops on the track and receives physical assistance must withdraw from the session, those who manage to restart without outside assistance may continue. This update would finally make Sainz’s actions permissible under the new interpretation of the rules. Article 39.6 now states, as quoted by Autosport:

“Any driver whose car stops anywhere other than the pit lane during a qualifying session or qualifying sprint and receives physical assistance will not be permitted to take part in further participation in that session.”

The second incident involved Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin during the sprint race of the Chinese GP. The Spanish driver received a penalty for colliding with Sainz, however, as he did not finish the sprint race, the penalty was not executed, making it ineffective. This scenario exposed a loophole in the sporting regulations regarding penalties in sprint races. To address this, Article 54.3.d. was changed. It now allows penalties from sprint races that were not executed due to early retirements to be transferred to penalties such as grid positions in the next main Grand Prix.

“If any of the above penalties are imposed on a Driver and that Driver is unable to serve the penalty because he fails to qualify in the sprint session or the race in case (a) or (b) or because he retires from the sprint session or the race in case (c) or (d), the stewards may impose on the Driver a grid penalty of one position in the next race.”