Rules

Parc Ferme (closed park)

Published

3 years ago

June 16, 2022

What is Parc ferme and what are its rules.

The teams are free to do any changes on the cars all through testing Day 1 and Day 2 but as soon as the cars leave the pit lane for Q1 (The first Qualifying session) they are in Parc Ferme status, the teams can no longer make any adjustments to the car set up unless they are permitted by FIA.

The cars remain in Parc Ferme status until they finish the race on Sunday. At the race end they are all parked in a specific closed place until the FIA scrutineers do their complete check up on the cars and declare them compliant, then only the race outcome is certified.

The teams are not allowed to take control of the cars until they are handed back to them by the FIA.

So, the race may end, a race winner maybe declared, and Champaign may be popped up but still the actual race result is only certified after these scrutineers finish checking the cars.

The scrutineers check so many parameters on the car, from the fuel to the weight and so many other things like the front and back wings size and shape. Everything must match the specs with a very small variation allowed.

If you notice sometimes after the race, the drivers go around the track for the final time and they drive outside the racing line on purpose so the hot tyres of the cars can pickup all the rubber laid down on the track which would help the car recover some of the weight it lost due to fuel consumption and tyres degradation. This is why the tyres look so strange after the race.

The F1 cars don’t like to sit idle while so hot after a very strong shake down during the qualifying sessions or the actual race so the teams are allowed to have 3 mechanics in the closed area with each car to make sure they are shut down properly and are cooled with fans and cooling boxes etc..

During Parc Ferme the cars can be fixed if there are broken parts but that doesn’t mean the team can change the car set up. So say a driver brakes the front wing, it can be replaced with no issues and can be sent again to run even if the car is under parc ferme rules.

The teams can also do some basic actions like changing the engine oil or remove the sparking plugs. Bleed the brake oil and replace it. Remove the car fuel and refuel it again. They can plug a jump battery or remove the wheels of and apply cooling fans. All these are permissible by the park ferme status.

Rules

Few Racing Rules

Published

3 years ago

January 25, 2022

The Publisher

There are so many rules to racing an F1 car, so I will explain here the important ones that would help you understand the sport more and enjoy watching the races. This will give you an idea of why drivers do what they do on the track.

So first of all, there are two white lines that dictates the racing area on the track, the drivers are not allowed to have more than two side wheels outside these lines during the race. These are called Track Limits. If a driver exceeds track limits, they get notified and if they continue to do so after the second notification they are disqualified from the race and will be asked to stop the car.

For sure during the race and to avoid accidents sometimes drivers do go outside the track limits and that is fine and is not punishable by the rules. But if a driver gains any advantage by exceeding the track limit, they would be asked to give back that advantage. So, if a driver uses the area outside the track to overtake another car, they would be asked to give that position back and if they don’t, they would be subject to further penalties.

A very important racing rule governs how drivers can defend their position from being overtaken. They can change direction twice only. This tends to happen a lot at the end of a straight part of the track when most overtaking happens. The driver ahead can change their direction twice only and can’t keep zigzagging to prevent the car behind from overtaking.

Additionally, there is a rule to govern how to pass cars that are one or more laps behind. (Cars being Overlapped). These cars would be shown a Blue Flag indicating that the car behind is one full lap ahead and they need to give way. They have 3 corners to leave the racing line to the car behind or they would be subject to a time penalty as well.

Causing a collision is also a very serious offence on the track and is penalized by the racing director often by a 5 or 10 second time penalty. A drive through the pit (very time consuming due to the speed limit in the pit lane). A stop and go penalty, the driver would be asked to stop at the Pit Box for a specific time then can leave and continue racing. While the driver is serving the stop and go penalty, the team can’t perform any activity on the car like changing tyres or any modifications.

The race director can even disqualify a driver for causing a collision as the maximum punishment.

While the cars are at a pit stop, they are not allowed to be released into the pit lane unless it is safe to do so, so if a car was released into the lane unsafely the team and driver can also face a punishment for the same.