During the recent World Council, the Federation approved several modifications to the sporting, technical, and financial regulations for the upcoming season. Among the innovations is a crackdown on metallic inserts on the floor to enhance safety, as they were identified as a risk element in case they detached from the car. Additionally, following the imposition of TD045, all activities that Power Unit constructors could previously circumvent in terms of costs must now be included in the budget.
While 2023 has not concluded, teams and the Federation are already active behind the scenes in preparation for the next season, both in terms of defining the characteristics of the cars that will hit the track in 2024 and the new regulations.
In Baku, during the FIA General Assembly week, the World Council met for the last time this year before the grand season-ending ceremony, where awards will be presented to the winners of various championships. Seizing the opportunity, the World Council approved the changes proposed in the last F1 Commission meeting, also ratifying the first draft of the calendar for the next championship.
Safety is a focal point for both F1 and the FIA, addressed on multiple levels. Precise guidelines have been introduced within the technical regulations to improve cockpit cooling, combating extreme heat experienced this year in Qatar. Another aspect considered is the calendar, especially concerning the future, with a focus on understanding how to safeguard the well-being and health of all personnel traveling during the season, which is increasingly longer and filled with events.
Crackdown on Metallic Elements on the Floor
However, safety concerns extend beyond these aspects, leading to interventions on certain elements of the single-seaters that could pose a threat. The FIA has approved a modification to the technical regulations for 2024, choosing to reduce the number and weight of metal reinforcements mounted on the floor, identified as a risk in case they detached from the car due to a rough passage over kerbs or contact with another car.
The relevant article is 3.16.4, which details the components or metallic inserts not allowed, as well as the areas where the ban has been imposed. Regulatorily, the floor is composed of multiple components, essentially divided into four fundamental areas: “Floor Body” (the main central structure), “Floor Edge Wing” (the outermost part where teams intervene with numerous technical innovations during the season), “Floor Fences” (the advanced part housing the entrances of venturi channels and the external element simulating the bargeboard), in addition to the classic skid placed in the lower area.
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Metallic inserts have been excluded in the area defined as “Floor Edge Wing,” while in the other two areas related to the floor, elements have been banned in specific zones to reduce risks. However, several exceptions will be allowed, both to limit the consumption of certain elements and for structural reasons. To provide a structural connection between the main part of the floor and the outer part, using a maximum of twelve support inserts (called brackets), divided equally on each side, is permitted. Beyond having specific dimensions, such as not being thicker than 5 millimeters, starting from next year, their mass must be less than 100 grams, and the total weight of the six brackets per side must not exceed 500 grams.
Moreover, support attachments for the strut supporting the floor can still be mounted on the car, but these are also limited to a maximum weight of 100 grams. Finally, an exception has been made for inserts that help limit floor consumption, i.e., reinforcement, provided each element’s mass is less than 30 grams, and their combined total weight does not exceed 300 grams per side of the car.
TD045 Comes into Play on Power Units
However, the crackdown on metallic inserts on the floor is not the only topic worth attention. In the context of the FIA’s increasing commitment to ensuring compliance with the budget cap rules, the governing body intervened a few months ago regarding the use of divisions related to special projects outside F1 teams. There were suspicions that these divisions were being used to gain advantages in terms of performance outside the budget cap.
In recent years, it has been quite common to divert part of the staff to external technical projects to leverage the knowledge gained in F1 and thereby extend the company’s business. For example, Red Bull has its Advanced Technology division, McLaren has Applied Technologies, Mercedes has Applied Science, and Aston Martin recently established Performance Technologies.
But following suspicions that some constructors were playing the system by using these divisions to deepen F1 knowledge outside the budget cap with the aim of later bringing that intellectual property back into the team, the FIA decided to impose a technical directive roughly midway through the season. With TD045, it was established that although teams are free to manage these special divisions, any intellectual property derived from them and used by F1 teams must be accounted for within the budget cap, so it cannot be considered a “free” resource.
This directive was somewhat applied not only to the aerodynamic part of the car but also on the Power Unit front. In the financial regulations related to the power unit, an article has been inserted indicating that all activities that were previously considered external, following TD045, must now fall under the accounted costs during the season, both for 2024 and 2025.
“If during the period of the entire year ending on December 31, 2024, the conditions that led a Power Unit Manufacturer to consider that a certain non-Power Unit-related activity undertaken in the previous Full Year Period [referring to the previous season] have changed following the introduction of TD045, all costs related to such activity that were excluded in the previous year’s period must be included in the relevant costs,” reads the regulation.
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