The FIA has issued an update to the Formula 1 sporting regulations in the hopes of tackling issues that have occurred during the opening races of the 2024 season.
Changes to the sporting regulations are aimed at addressing jump starts and ensuring teams do not sit out practice sessions affected by wet weather.
Lando Norris escaped a penalty in Saudi Arabia for jumping the start as the McLaren driver was deemed to have not moved by the FIA transponder fitted to his car.
At the time, it appeared that Norris was set to be penalised for the infringement, but the FIA has now responded by issuing a new rule for the Miami Grand Prix onwards.
The stewards will now be able to penalise a car for jumping the start even if the FIA transponders fail to pick up any movement with the revision removing mention that the judgement must be made “by an FIA approved and supplied transponder”.
A driver will be penalised for a jump start should they be found to move “after the four-second light is illuminated and before the start signal is given by extinguishing all red lights.”
A new rule has also been added by the FIA to encourage teams to conduct meaningful running in rain-affected practice sessions as opposed to protecting their limited number of intermediate tyres for later on in the weekend.
Article 30.5(g) dictates that “From the five sets of intermediate tyres allocated to each driver under Article 30.2 (a) ii, if [first, second or third practice) is declared wet, one set of intermediate tyres must be electronically returned no later than two hours after the end of [third practice].”
A wet FP2 session in Japan last month saw just nine drivers post a lap time during the entirety of the hour-long practice session prompting displeasure from many, including F1 President and CEO Stefano Domenicali.
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