Several novelties emerged in the latest meeting of the F1 Commission, which took place in Abu Dhabi coinciding with the final weekend of the 2023 season. Various discussion points were addressed, including the development of the 2026 single-seaters, the issue of extreme temperatures in the Qatar GP, and, most importantly, the redefinition of sessions in the Sprint format, whose program will be once again revised in 2024.
What did the F1 Commission meeting in Abu Dhabi decide?
“The Commission has given its general support for an update to the Sprint format for 2024 to further streamline the weekend by separating Sprint activities from those of the Grand Prix,” reads the statement issued by the FIA a few minutes ago.
“The final schedule of Sprint events in 2024 will be published in the coming weeks. The Sporting Advisory Committee will work on specific details, especially regarding the times and regulations of the closed park, for a final proposal to be presented to the Commission at the first meeting of 2024.”
Unless there are significant changes, the qualification shootout is set to be moved to Friday, while traditional qualifications would be shifted to Saturday after the sprint race, as anticipated in recent weeks. The statement also refers to the closed park rule, which has also been a subject of controversy during sprint weekends.
The temperature problem in Qatar
“Following the extreme temperatures recorded during the Qatar Grand Prix 2023, the Commission approved an update to the Technical Regulations to allow the installation of a valve on the car to increase driver cooling. Further analysis is underway on additional cooling options for more extreme conditions.”
Updates to the sporting, technical, and financial regulations
“An update to the Technical Regulations related to safety has been approved, mitigating the danger created by metallic components in the bottom, should they come off, by limiting their mass and number. The Commission approved other minor updates to the 2024 Technical and Sporting Regulations.”
In addition to this, “the commission has approved further refinements regarding the exclusion of costs of sustainability initiatives from the Financial Regulations.”
“This concerns the costs attributable to defining and identifying sustainability objectives and the strategy to achieve them, as well as monitoring, collecting, and producing reports to measure progress against carbon footprint and emissions goals and overall ESG sustainability objectives.”
Tests on wheel covers and tire development
After the failure of the first wheel cover prototype tested a few months ago, “Commission members have recognized the importance of this project, and further testing will take place in the spring of 2024.”
“This test will use a cover design that completely wraps around the tire to establish a proof of concept for wheel covering with these cars and help define the future direction of the project.”
Regarding tire development, the commission deemed it necessary to continue using tire warmers at least until 2025: “The direction of future tire development should focus on reducing overheating issues and improving drivability.”
“Therefore, it was decided to keep the tire warmers for 2025 and remove the related appendices from the Sporting and Technical Regulations that required further decision to be made in July 2024. Following the experimentation of an alternative tire allocation in two events this season, the Commission decided to keep the 13 standard sets of dry tires for the 2024 season, eliminating the related sections of the ATA Regulation.”
Finally, an update on the 2026 single-seaters: “The Commission has decided that work on developing a car for the 2026 season cannot begin before the start of 2025.”
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