Photo: Jerry Andre / LAT Images / FIA F2 Championship
Formula 2 and the FIA Formula 3 Championship have adopted similar sporting regulation changes for 2024.
The first change being implemented by both is all protests must now be paid in cash, while appeals will cost €6,000 (£5,129) after there previously being no blanket charge. In F2 and F3 races, time penalties, drive-through and stop-go penalties, reprimands, grid drops and deleted laptimes can no longer be appealed.
Any driver “who receives five reprimands in the same championship will, upon the imposition of the fifth, be given a five-grid place penalty for the next race”, under the requirement that at least four of the reprimands are for driving infringements.
The big change in qualifying is that article 33.5 in F2 and F3’s regulations has been updated from “any driver whose car stops on the track during the qualifying practice session will not be permitted to take any further part in the session” to “any driver who in the opinion of the stewards is the sole cause of the issuance of a red flag during the qualifying practice session will not be permitted to take any further part in the session and their fastest lap time during the session may be deleted”.
Hitech GP’s team principal Oliver Oakes agreed with updating the rule: “There’s nothing worse than someone goes and takes pole by almost ruining the session for everyone else. I guess it depends if it’s your driver who’s made an innocent mistake or not. With rules like that, you kind of sometimes want them but then you hate them later on.
“In terms of whether we should be close to Formula 1 on rules or not [since it is a rule F1 does not have], it’s really easy to say we’d like to be because that’s what the kids watch on TV. But I think it’s actually difficult sometimes, there’s so many nuances that are different.”
ART Grand Prix’s team principal Sebastien Philippe was “not sure it will change a lot of things because at the end of the day, especially in F2, when you want to deliver in quali you have to take some risks at some point”, but then said in F3 “maybe some of them will be a bit more cautious” because of the rule.
Adrian Campos Jr said much the same, with Campos Racing’s team principal noting “if you have an accident because you are risking too much, you will start from the back of the grid in both races” if either excessive car repairs are required or a crash occurs before a competitive laptime is set.
He added “we don’t want anyone causing a red flag on purpose to keep the provisional pole”, but “this is something that obviously we never thought about” before.
Previously the two championships had only specified a grid formation procedure for when qualifying was cancelled, but now the regulations cover off the possibility of neither free practice or qualifying occurring. In this scenario, the points standings will set the grids.
F2’s entry fee has also risen by €10,000 to €60,000 (£51,302).