The Formula 1 Commission has met today in Geneva to discuss several changes for the 2012 season which includes calendar, regulation and name changes.
The changes each require a majority vote of 18 from the 26-strong board, made up of team principals, FIA members including president Jean Todt, Bernie Ecclestone and representatives from F1 sponsors, suppliers and circuit organisers, to be ratified for 2012.
Key points to be discussed include;
– Name changes: Team Lotus have requested to change their chassis name to Caterham, whilst Renault will adopt the Lotus moniker if approved. Virgin Racing have also requested a name change to Marussia, to reflect the Russian manufacturers ownership stake in the team.
– Calendar concerns: The members will discuss the 2012 Bahrain GP and whether it should go ahead due to ongoing political unrest and human rights’ violations. If scrapped, it will likely be replaced with Turkey, which was dropped from the 2012 calendar.
The inaugural Austin GP could also be postponed after concerns surrounding the promoter and whether it will be ready on time.
The Korean GP could also be dropped after the organisers requested a reduction in their sanctioning fee, something Ecclestone is keen to avoid.
– Technical partnerships: Concerns have been raised about technical collaborations which may breach the constructor rule in the Concorde Agreement, such as that between McLaren, Force India and Virgin Racing.
– Third cars: Ferrari are keen to see a return of third cars for customer teams, though it’s believed several other teams are against the idea.
– Safety car: The regulations surrounding lapped cars and the safety car will be discussed, with a likely outcome seeing a return to slower cars being forced to drop to the back, to avoid a dangerous scenario of faster cars having to pass slower cars at the restart.
– Q3 changes: Changes to the final part of qualifying will also be discussed after several teams opted to save tyres by not running in the session.
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