Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd
Formula 2 and Formula 3’s 2023 sporting regulations have revealed several rule changes taking place in both series.
The first is a change to the countback rule when competitors finish on an identical points tally, where championship positions are determined on total number of victories, and then second places if drivers have the same number of wins.
Now F2 and F3’s regulations specify that feature race wins hold more value, meaning if one driver with five sprint race wins is level on points with a rival with a single feature race win and no sprint race victories, the latter would be ahead in the standings.
The livery rule mandating all cars entered by a team “must have the same livery at every event (i.e. same basic colours and overall appearance)” was updated by F3 last year with a line adding “drivers who are part of a Formula 1 [junior] programme may be allowed to use a different livery on their cars”. F2 adopts the changed version too for 2023.
The definition of a penalisable false start in F2 and F3 has been expanded to include drivers whose front tyres are outside the sides of their grid slot.
Several qualifying changes will be introduced in both series, starting with “any driver whose car stops on the track during the qualifying practice will not be permitted to take any further part in the session”.
There will be stricter punishment of drivers who fail to stop for random weight checks during qualifying, with offenders now handed pitlane starts for two races rather than one, and if qualifying is cancelled “the results of free practice will determine” sprint and feature race grids. It had previously not been dictated in the regulations what procedure was if qualifying was cancelled.
A procedure that has been put into writing for F2, having been used in 2022 without being specified in the regulations, is how Monaco’s sprint race grid is set as the 22-car field is split into two groups for qualifying.
The format used for establishing Sunday’s feature race grid, where the driver who topped the faster group took pole and everyone else in their group filled the odd-numbered grid slots while those in the other group in order of pace filled the even-numbered grid slots, was also applied last year for Saturday’s reversed-grid sprint race.
That meant the driver who was fifth fastest in the slower group, and 10th on the feature race grid, started on sprint race pole as the top 10 were flipped.
The driver who was fifth in the faster group started second on the reversed grid, the fourth fastest in the slower group started third, the fourth fastest in the faster group started fourth, and so on until the the top 10 grid slots were filled. The grid’s remaining six rows were identical to the feature race’s (prior to penalties being applied).
In F3, DRS usage “after the race start or following a safety car period” can now occur after one completed lap. The rule was previously two laps.