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Sporting Regulations
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FIA Rules & Regulations Sporting Regulations
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2006 season changes
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A number of changes to both the Sporting and Technical Regulations have been made by the FIA for the 2006 Formula One season.
Qualifying
For 2006, the single-lap system used in recent years is replaced by a new three-part, knockout format, with multiple cars on track throughout the qualifying hour, which is split into three 15-minute sessions, with short breaks in between.
Q1: All 22 cars may run laps at any time during the first 15 minutes of the hour. At the end of the first 15 minutes, the six slowest cars drop out and fill the final six grid places.
Q2: After a seven-minute break, the times will be reset and the 16 remaining cars then will then run in a second 15-minute session - again they may complete as many laps as they want at any time during that period. At the end of the 15 minutes, the six slowest cars drop out and fill places 11 to 16 on the grid.
Q3: After a further eight-minute break, the times are reset and the final 15-minute session will feature a shootout between the remaining 10 cars to decide pole position and the starting order for the top 10 grid places. Again, these cars may run as many laps as they wish.
In the first two 15-minute sessions, cars may run any fuel load and drivers knocked out after those sessions may refuel ahead of the race. However, the top-ten drivers in the final 15-minute session may only replace the fuel they used during that session before the start of the race.
If a driver is deemed to have stopped unnecessarily on the circuit or impeded another driver during the qualifying session, then his times will be cancelled.
Engines
For 2006, engines are reduced in size from the previous 3-litre V10s to 2.4-litre V8s. The aim is to reduce costs and improve safety. With similar engine speeds, the change is expected to cut peak power by around 200bhp, which in turn is likely to add around three to five seconds to lap times at most circuits. The FIA may allow some teams to use 2005-spec V10s if they do not have access to competitive V8. The FIA will enforce a rev limit on any V10s to ensure performance is comparable with that of a V8.
Tyres
After a season’s absence, tyre changes during races return to Formula One in 2006. The thinking behind this is that the reduced engine size will offset any performance gain. Drivers also have access to slightly more tyres than in 2005 - seven sets of dry-weather, four sets of wet-weather and three sets of extreme-weather. Drivers must make a final choice of dry-weather compound ahead of qualifying.
Weekend schedule
In a slight change to the Grand Prix weekend format, Saturday morning now features a single, one-hour practice session, as opposed to two, 45-minute sessions. It takes place between 1100 and 1200. Qualifying is an hour later than before, commencing at 1400.
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Published with permission from the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile.
From the 2006 Formula One Sporting Regulations:
FREE PRACTICE
114) Free practice sessions will take place:
a) The day after initial scrutineering from 11.00 to 12.00 and from 14.00 to 15.00.
b) The day before the race from 11.00 to 12.00.
QUALIFYING PRACTICE
115) The qualifying practice session will take place on the day before the race from 14.00 to 15.00.
The session will be run as follows:
a) From 14.00 to 14.15 (Q1) all cars will be permitted on the track and at the end of this period the slowest five cars will be prohibited from taking any further part in the session.
Lap times achieved by the fifteen remaining cars will then be deleted.
b) From 14.22 to 14.37 (Q2) the fifteen remaining cars will be permitted on the track and at the end of this period the slowest five cars will be prohibited from taking any further part in the session.
Lap times achieved by the ten remaining cars will then be deleted.
c) From 14.45 to 15.00 (Q3) the ten remaining cars will be permitted on the track.
The above procedure is based upon a Championship entry of 20 cars. If 22 are entered six cars will be excluded after Q1 and Q2 and, if 24 are entered, six cars will be excluded after Q1 and Q2 leaving 12 cars eligible for Q3.
116) If, in the opinion of the stewards, a driver deliberately stops on the circuit or impedes another driver in any way during the qualifying practice session his times will be cancelled.
SUPPLY OF TYRES IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP AND TYRE LIMITATION DURING THE EVENT
73) Supply of tyres:
a) Any tyre company wishing to supply tyres to Formula One Teams must notify the FIA of its intention to do so no later than 1 January preceding the year during which such tyres will be supplied.
Any tyre company wishing to cease the supply of tyres to Formula One Teams must notify the FIA of its intention to do so no later than 1 January of the year preceding that in which such tyres were to be supplied.
b) No tyre may be used in the Championship unless the company supplying such tyre accepts and adheres to the following conditions:
- one tyre supplier present in the Championship: this company must equip 100% of the entered teams on ordinary commercial terms;
- two tyre suppliers present: each of them must, if called upon to do so, be prepared to equip up to 60% of the entered teams on ordinary commercial terms;
- three or more tyre suppliers present: each of them must, if called upon to do so, be prepared to equip up to 40% of the entered teams on ordinary commercial terms;
- each tyre supplier must undertake to provide no more than two specifications of dry-weather tyre to each Team at each Event, each of which must be of one homogenous compound. Any modification or treatment, other than heating, carried out to a tyre or tyres will be considered a change of specification;
- each tyre supplier must undertake to provide no more than one specification of wet-weather tyre at each Event which must be of one homogenous compound;
- each tyre supplier must undertake to provide no more than one specification of extreme-weather tyre at each Event which must be of one homogenous compound;
- if, in the interests of maintaining current levels of circuit safety, the FIA deems it necessary to reduce tyre grip, it shall introduce such rules as the tyre suppliers may advise or, in the absence of advice which achieves the FIA's objectives, specify the maximum permissible contact areas for front and rear tyres.
74) Type of tyres:
a) All dry-weather tyres must incorporate circumferential grooves square to the wheel axis and around the entire circumference of the contact surface of each tyre.
b) Each front dry-weather tyre, when new, must incorporate 4 grooves which are:
- arranged symmetrically about the centre of the tyre tread;
- at least 14mm wide at the contact surface and which taper uniformly to a minimum of 10mm at the lower surface;
- at least 2.5mm deep across the whole lower surface;
- 50mm (+/- 1.0mm) between centres.
Furthermore, the tread width of the front tyres must not exceed 270mm.
c) Each rear dry-weather tyre, when new, must incorporate 4 grooves which are:
- arranged symmetrically about the centre of the tyre tread;
- at least 14mm wide at the contact surface and which taper uniformly to a minimum of 10mm at the lower surface;
- at least 2.5mm deep across the whole lower surface;
- 50mm (+/- 1.0mm) between centres.
The measurements referred to in b) and c) above will be taken when the tyre is fitted to a wheel and inflated to 1.4 bar.
d) A wet-weather tyre is one which has been designed for use on a wet or damp track.
All wet-weather tyres must, when new, have a contact area which does not exceed 280cm when fitted to the front of the car and 440cm when fitted to the rear. Contact areas will be measured over any square section of the tyre which is normal to and symmetrical about the tyre centre line and which measures 200mm x 200mm when fitted to the front of the car and 250mm x 250mm when fitted to the rear. For the purposes of establishing conformity, void areas which are less than 2.5mm in depth will be deemed to be contact areas.
Prior to use at an Event, each tyre manufacturer must provide the technical delegate with a full scale drawing of each type of wet-weather tyre intended for use.
e) An extreme-weather tyre is one which has been designed for use on a wet track.
All extreme-weather tyres must, when new, have a contact area which does not exceed 240cm when fitted to the front of the car and 375cm when fitted to the rear. Contact areas will be measured over any square section of the tyre which is normal to and symmetrical about the tyre centre line and which measures 200mm x 200mm when fitted to the front of the car and 250mm x 250mm when fitted to the rear. For the purposes of establishing conformity, void areas which are less than 5.0mm in depth will be deemed to be contact areas.
Prior to use at an Event, each tyre manufacturer must provide the technical delegate with a full scale drawing of each type of extreme-weather tyre intended for use.
f) Tyre specifications will be determined by the FIA no later than 1 September of the previous season. Once determined in this way, the specification of the tyres will not be changed during the Championship season without the agreement of the Formula One Commission.
75) Quantity of tyres
a) During the Event no driver may use more than seven sets of dry-weather tyres, four sets of wet-weather tyres and three sets of extreme-weather tyres. A set of tyres will be deemed to comprise two front and two rear tyres all of which must be of the same specification.
If a driver change is made during an Event the tyres allocated to the original driver must be used by the new driver. If the new driver is a third driver entered under Article 58(b), any tyres used on the first day of practice will not count towards his total number of sets.
76) Control of tyres:
a) The outer sidewall of all tyres which are to be used at an Event must be marked with a unique identification.
b) Other than in cases of force majeure (accepted as such by the stewards of the meeting), all tyres intended for use at an Event must be presented to the FIA technical delegate for allocation prior to the end of initial scrutineering.
c) At any time during an Event, and at his absolute discretion, the FIA technical delegate may select alternative dry-weather tyres to be used by any team or driver from among the relevant stock of tyres which such team's designated supplier has present at the Event.
d) A competitor wishing to replace one unused tyre by another identical unused one must present both tyres to the FIA technical delegate.
e) The use of tyres without appropriate identification may result in deletion of the relevant driver's qualifying time or exclusion from the race.
f) The only permitted type of tyre heating devices are blankets which use resistive heating elements.
77) Use of tyres
a) No driver may use more than one specification of dry-weather tyre after the start of the qualifying practice session.
b) Prior to the start of the qualifying practice session wet and extreme-weather tyres may only be used after the track has been declared wet by the race director, following which extreme, wet or dry-weather tyres may be used for the remainder of the session.
78) Wear of tyres:
The Championship will be contested on grooved tyres. The FIA reserve the right to introduce at any time a method of measuring remaining groove depth if performance appears to be enhanced by high wear or by the use of tyres which are worn so that the grooves are no longer visible.
From the 2005 Formula One Technical Regulations:
ARTICLE 5: ENGINE
5.1 Engine specification:
5.1.1 Only 4-stroke engines with reciprocating pistons are permitted.
5.1.2 Subject only to Article 5.2, engine capacity must not exceed 2400 cc.
5.1.3 Supercharging is forbidden.
5.1.4 All engines must have 8 cylinders arranged in a 90 V configuration and the normal section of each cylinder must be circular.
5.1.5 Engines must have two inlet and two exhaust valves per cylinder.
Only reciprocating poppet valves are permitted.
The sealing interface between the moving valve component and the stationary engine component must be circular.
5.2 Alternative engines:
For 2006 and 2007 only, the FIA reserves the right to allow any team to use an engine complying with the 2005 engine regulations, provided its maximum crankshaft rotational speed does not exceed a limit fixed from time to time by the FIA so as to ensure that such an engine will only be used by a team which does not have access to a competitive 2.4 litre V8 engine.
5.3 Other means of propulsion:
5.3.1 Subject only to Article 5.2, the use of any device, other than the 2.4 litre, four stroke engine described in 5.1 above, to power the car, is not permitted.
5.3.2 The total amount of recoverable energy stored on the car must not exceed 300kJ, any which may be recovered at a rate greater than 2kW must not exceed 20kJ.
5.4 Engine dimensions:
5.4.1 Cylinder bore diameter may not exceed 98mm.
5.4.2 Cylinder spacing must be fixed at 106.5mm (+/- 0.2mm).
5.4.3 The crankshaft centreline must not be less than 58mm above the reference plane.
5.5 Weight and centre of gravity:
5.5.1 The overall weight of the engine must be a minimum of 95kg.
5.5.2 The centre of gravity of the engine may not lie less than 165mm above the reference plane.
5.5.3 The longitudinal and lateral position of the centre of gravity of the engine must fall within a region that is the geometric centre of the engine, +/- 50mm.
5.5.4 When establishing conformity with Article 5.5, the engine will include the intake system up to and including the air filter, fuel rail and injectors, ignition coils, engine mounted sensors and wiring, alternator, coolant pumps and oil pumps.
5.5.5 When establishing conformity with Article 5.5, the engine will not include liquids, exhaust manifolds, heat shields, oil tanks, water system accumulators, heat exchangers, hydraulic system (e.g. pumps, accumulators, manifolds, servo-valves, solenoids, actuators) except servo-valve and actuator for engine throttle control, fuel pumps nor any component not mounted on the engine when fitted to the car.
5.6 Variable geometry systems:
5.6.1 Variable geometry inlet systems are not permitted.
5.6.2 Variable geometry exhaust systems are not permitted.
5.6.3 Variable valve timing and variable valve lift systems are not permitted.
5.7 Fuel systems
5.7.1 The pressure of the fuel supplied to the injectors may not exceed 100 bar. Sensors must be fitted which directly measure the pressure of the fuel supplied to the injectors, these signals must be supplied to the FIA data logger.
5.7.2 Only one fuel injector per cylinder is permitted which must inject directly into the side or the top of the inlet port.
5.8 Electrical systems:
5.8.1 Ignition is only permitted by means of a single ignition coil and single spark plug per cylinder. The use of plasma, laser or other high frequency ignition techniques is forbidden.
5.8.2 Only conventional spark plugs that function by high tension electrical discharge across an exposed gap are permitted.
Spark plugs are not subject to the materials restrictions described in Articles 5.13 and 5.14.
5.8.3 The primary regulated voltage on the car must not exceed 17.0V DC. This voltage is defined as the stabilised output from the on-car charging system.
5.9 Engine actuators:
With the following exceptions hydraulic, pneumatic or electronic actuation is forbidden:
a) Electronic solenoids uniquely for the control of engine fluids;
b) Components providing controlled pressure air for a pneumatic valve system;
c) A single actuator to operate the throttle system of the engine.
5.10 Engine auxiliaries:
With the exception of electrical fuel pumps engine auxiliaries must be mechanically driven directly from the engine with a fixed speed ratio to the crankshaft.
5.11 Engine intake air:
5.11.1 Other than injection of fuel for the normal purpose of combustion in the engine, any device, system, procedure, construction or design the purpose or effect of which is any decrease in the temperature of the engine intake air is forbidden.
5.11.2 Other than engine sump breather gases and fuel for the normal purpose of combustion in the engine, the spraying of any substance into the engine intake air is forbidden.
5.12 Materials and Construction - Definitions:
5.12.1 X Based Alloy (e.g. Ni based alloy) X must be the most abundant element in the alloy on a %w/w basis. The minimum possible weight percent of the element X must always be greater than the maximum possible of each of the other individual elements present in the alloy.
5.12.2 X-Y Based Alloy (e.g. Al-Cu based alloy) X must be the most abundant element as in 5.12.1 above. In addition element Y must be the second highest constituent (%w/w), after X in the alloy. The mean content of Y and all other alloying elements must be used to determine the second highest alloying element (Y).
5.12.3 Intermetallic Materials (e.g. TiAl, NiAl, FeAl, Cu3Au, NiCo) These are materials where the material is based upon intermetallic phases, i.e. the matrix of the material consists of greater then 50%v/v intermetallic phase(s). An intermetallic phase is a solid solution between two or more metals exhibiting either partly ionic or covalent, or metallic bonding with a long range order, in a narrow range of composition around the stoichiometric proportion.
5.12.4 Composite Materials These are materials where a matrix material is reinforced by either a continuous or discontinuous phase. The matrix can be metallic, ceramic, polymeric or glass based. The reinforcement can be present as long fibres (continuous reinforcement); or short fibres, whiskers and particles (discontinuous reinforcement).
5.12.5 Metal Matrix Composites (MMC's) These are materials with a metallic matrix containing a phase of greater than 2%v/v which is not soluble in the liquid phase of the metallic matrix.
5.12.6 Ceramic Materials (e.g. Al2O3, SiC, B4C, Ti5Si3, SiO2, Si3N4) These are inorganic, non metallic solids.
5.13 Materials and construction General:
5.13.1 Unless explicitly permitted for a specific engine component, the following materials may not be used anywhere on the engine:
a) Magnesium based alloys
b) Metal Matrix Composites (MMC's)
c) Intermetallic materials
d) Alloys containing more than 5% by weight of Beryllium, Iridium or Rhenium.
5.13.2 Coatings are free provided the total coating thickness does not exceed 25% of the section thickness of the underlying base material in all axes. In all cases the relevant coating must not exceed 0.8mm.
5.14 Materials and construction Components:
5.14.1 Pistons must be manufactured from an aluminium alloy which is either Al-Si; Al-Cu; Al-Mg or Al-Zn based.
5.14.2 Piston pins must be manufactured from an iron based alloy and must be machined from a single piece of material.
5.14.3 Connecting rods must be manufactured from iron or titanium based alloys and must be machined from a single piece of material with no welded or joined assemblies (other than a bolted big end cap or an interfered small end bush).
5.14.4 Crankshafts must be manufactured from an iron based alloy.
No welding is permitted between the front and rear main bearing journals.
No material with a density exceeding 19,000kg/m3 may be assembled to the crankshaft.
5.14.5 Camshafts must be manufactured from an iron based alloy.
Each camshaft and lobes must be machined from a single piece of material.
No welding is allowed between the front and rear bearing journals.
5.14.6 Valves must be manufactured from alloys based on Iron, Nickel, Cobalt or Titanium.
Hollow structures cooled by sodium, lithium or similar are permitted.
5.14.7 Reciprocating and rotating components:
a) Reciprocating and rotating components must not be manufactured from graphitic matrix, metal matrix composites or ceramic materials. This restriction does not apply to the clutch and any seals;
b) Rolling elements of rolling element bearings must be manufactured from an iron based alloy;
c) Timing gears between the crankshaft and camshafts (including hubs) must be manufactured from an iron based alloy.
5.14.8 Static components:
a) Engine crankcases and cylinder heads must be manufactured from cast or wrought aluminium alloys.
No composite materials or metal matrix composites are permitted either for the whole component or locally.
b) Any metallic structure whose primary or secondary function is to retain lubricant or coolant within the engine must be manufactured from an iron based alloy or an aluminium alloy of the Al-Si, Al-Cu, Al-Zn or Al-Mg alloying systems.
c) All threaded fasteners must be manufactured from an alloy based on Cobalt, Iron or Nickel.
Composite materials are not permitted.
d) Valve seat inserts, valve guides and any other bearing component may be manufactured from metallic infiltrated pre-forms with other phases which are not used for reinforcement.
5.15 Starting the engine:
A supplementary device temporarily connected to the car may be used to start the engine both on the grid and in the pits.
5.16 Stall prevention systems:
If a car is equipped with a stall prevention system, and in order to avoid the possibility of a car involved in an accident being left with the engine running, all such systems must be configured to stop the engine no more than ten seconds after activation. |
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