On February 21, the Formula 1 committee had its first meeting, and decided to increase the budget cap for the extra races on the calendar to 1.8 million dollars per race. After all, the 2023 calendar has more than 21 games, and especially in the last phase of the season, the teams fly from hot to here, which means that the price tag of air travel will show a larger amount. In the meeting, more bottlenecks were discussed that need to be adjusted, such as the infrastructure of some circuits and the DRS zones. F1Maximum summarizes the changes.
The Formula 1 Commission is responsible for approving changes to sporting and technical regulations and then forwards those approved changes to the FIA. The changes that will be applied will then be announced via the administrative body. On February 21, the Formula 1 committee therefore had its first meeting of the year and a number of points from the drivers and teams were included, such as that more DRS zones should be created and that some circuits need a makeover. However, all the points mentioned still have to be approved by the World Motor Sport Council.
Increasing the budget cap from 1.2 million to 1.8 million per race
An increase in the cost cap adjustment for more than 21 races was agreed from $1.2 million to $1.8 million per race, based on the fact that the trend of additional races added to the calendar are added, towards fly-aways, which are more expensive,” the FIA explains in a press release. After all, towards the end of the 2023 season, the teams will travel to Las Vegas, Brazil, Qatar and Abu Dhabi. There is also a small change to the regulations.
These include the introduction of a winter break period for both entrants and engine manufacturers, wording to ensure that shorter races are awarded fewer points even if they do not end with an interrupted race, and wording to allow easier access to the factories for the FIA audit team, to verify that the teams and engine manufacturers comply with the financial regulations and with the operational restrictions of the technical and sporting regulations.’
Rain tires and wet weather package
At the request of the drivers, Pirelli started with the rain tires. The band with the blue cheeks is not often used. The intermediate band, on the other hand, does. “We are forced to go on the intermediates because the rain tires are rubbish – sorry, not very good,” Sebastian Vettel told Sky Sports at the Japanese Grand Prix, a race that was very wet. “The whole field was on the wrong tires.” The FIA explains that they have corrected this problem. “Following successful testing by Pirelli, with the support of teams, Pirelli have come up with a wet weather tire that performs much better than the previous specification – this tire does not require the use of tire blankets.”
The tire construction will be available from the 2023 FIA Formula 1 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. The Formula 1 Commission has approved this change to the tire specification. In addition, the FIA is grateful for the support offers from the teams for the wet weather package project, as presented at the last F1 committee meeting. A technical guideline is being prepared to allow teams to do such work beyond the limits for aerodynamic testing constraints and beyond the cost cap. Track testing is planned for the second or third quarter of 2023.
Radio messages and Parc Fermé rules during sprint races
“The Commission approved the proposal to relax the regulation of radio messages to and from drivers at all times during a race,” the FIA explained, before moving on to the Parc Fermé rules. The drivers park their cars there, but nothing may be modified on the cars unless permission is obtained. The Commission has approved a revised Parc Fermé request acceptance policy, in which the Sprint weekend gives Parc Fermé more room to change parts that are prone to damage and makes greater use of self-declared Parc Fermé forms. This applies to the entire Parc Fermé period from the car’s departure to qualifying on Friday until the car starts the race. This will be implemented through a technical guideline.”
These circuits will be overhauled and will have more DRS zones
At a number of circuits, some renovations are planned. In Jeddah, the track will be modified to provide drivers with optimum visibility at every turn they enter. Baku and Miami will get new asphalt, as the cars were bouncing quite a bit there. After all, Baku is also a street circuit, so that circuit could use a new layer of asphalt. In Zandvoort, work will be done on the pit lane, as the pit stop positions will be widened by one and a half meters. Finally, a new pit building will be built in Qatar and the infrastructure of the paddock will be set up.
The FIA has analyzed the DRS zones for 2022 and made some changes for 2023 to make overtaking easier or to make it more difficult on certain circuits where it was not deemed sufficiently challenging. These changes will be implemented in Bahrain, Jeddah, Melbourne, Baku and Miami, and will include the adjustment of detection and activation zones, as well as reinstating the fourth activation zone in Melbourne.” With this, the FIA and Formula 1 hope to provide more challenge to the drivers and thus create more exciting races.
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