FIA announces change to qualifying regulations from Imola
Following the confusion over starting positions at the Malaysian Grand Prix, the FIA have introduced clarifications to the qualifying procedure and the line up of cars on the grid for the San Marino GP 2006 onwards.
The procedure to be used for today's session in Melbourne however, remains unchanged.
From Imola onwards, the sessions will be run as previously in Bahrain and Malaysia, and today in Melbourne, with the six slowest cars being eliminated from qualifying at the end of each of the first two sessions. However, the times recorded will only be used in part to form the grid.
The changes have been made with the following goals in mind:
To increase transparency in the decision making processes
To reduce the cost of competing
To improve the sporting spectacle
The FIA considers that the changes should have no negative impact on the safety profile of either races or qualifying sessions.
The grid will be now calculated as follows:
Positions 17 to 22:
A random selection device will be filled with balls marked with the race numbers of each car excluded after the first session. The machine will mix the balls for one minute at which point the status light on the selection machine will turn green. The first ball will then be selected. The car with the race number corresponding to the ball drawn first will be allocated start position 17. This procedure will be repeated every 30 seconds until the sixth and final ball is drawn for the car that will start in 22nd place on the grid. The status light will then show red.
There will then be a five minute break.
Positions 11 to 16:
Balls marked with the race numbers of each car excluded after the second qualifying session will be entered into the random selection device. The machine will mix the balls for one minute before the light turns green and the first ball is selected. The car with the race number corresponding to the ball drawn first will be allocated start position 11. This procedure will be repeated every 30 seconds until the sixth and final ball is drawn for the car that will start in 16th place on the grid. The status light will then show red.
There will then be a five minute break.
Positions 1 to 10:
Balls marked with the race numbers of all remaining cars will be entered into the random selection device. The machine will mix the balls for one minute before the light turns green and the first ball is selected. The car with the race number corresponding to the ball drawn first will be allocated pole position. This procedure will be repeated every 30 seconds until the tenth and final ball is drawn for the car that will start in 10th place on the grid.
Penalties for changing engines and refuelling allowances
In order to reduce confusion, penalties for changing engines will be combined with the selection of fuel for the race.
Extensive simulations have shown that the likelihood of a ball being selected by the random selection device decreases significantly with the mass of the ball. Before the start of qualifying, teams will be required to add ballast to the balls bearing the race numbers of their cars, with 1mg of ballast representing 1kg of fuel. The FIA will also add a further 10mg of ballast to each ball where the corresponding car has undergone an engine change in between the previous race and the start of qualifying. Aerodynamic profiling or alteration of the frictional coefficient of the balls is not permitted.
In order to provide an incentive to teams to provide entertainment during the final qualifying session, the FIA will remove 20mg of ballast from the ball corresponding to the car setting the fastest time in this session, 18 mg from the second fastest car and so on.
After the grid draw, fuel may be added to the cars in parc ferme based on the weights of the balls as provided by the teams at the start of the grid draw.
Timing change
Future qualifying sessions will now be run one hour earlier than previously stated in order to allow the grid draw to be shown live with minimal impact to television schedules. Once the results of the timed sessions are known, the ball selections will commence, typically at 14:00 local time to facilitate television coverage of the grid draw. (Max's note for removal before publication: For some strange reason which escapes me now, we picked 12:30 for the British GP, was this just because Bernie wanted to annoy those idiots at Silverstone?) Local celebrities will be encouraged to carry out the draw. Where the celebrity chosen is deemed not famous enough, a replacement celebrity may be substituted by FOM.
The FIA have also announced the addition of a major trade sponsor; LotteryBallsUp, manufacturers of gaming instruments. It is anticipated that LotteryBallsUp will also be allocated responsibility for race results for the 2008 season, although the FIA reserves the right to introduce this during the current season if a single manufacturer wins more than a certain percentage, yet to be announced, of race wins.
Rumours that LotteryBallsUp is co-owned by the wife of a senior FIA or FOM executive are said to be wide of the mark.
