With the first official track action of the 2025 Formula 1 season just over a week away, the FIA published its latest update to the series’ rules.
Some changes, such as the introduction of an extra mandatory pit stop in Monaco and the scrapping of the bonus point for fastest lap, have already attracted significant attention. But other less obvious changes have emerged which could have a significant effect on how races play out this year.
F1’s rules continue to become more complicated. The Sporting Regulations alone have grown from 107 pages last year to 120, and that is just one of several sets of rules which govern F1, along with the Technical regulations, Financial Regulations and over-arching International Sporting Code.
From those, here are 16 key rules changes to be aware of for the upcoming F1 season:
Since 2022, the FIA has required teams to allocate one first practice session per car to inexperienced drivers during the season. The governing body has doubled that obligation for 2025.
Drivers will qualify as sufficiently inexperienced for this purpose if they have “not participated in more than two championship races in their career.” Therefore, out of the six drivers who are starting their first full seasons this year, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Isack Hadjar, Gabriel Bortoleto and Jack Doohan all qualify, so their teams will fulfil half their total obligation over the first two rounds.
However Liam Lawson, with 11 starts, is already too experienced, as is Oliver Bearman due to the three grands prix he started last year.
New procedure for setting the grid on disrupted weekends
Prolonged rain at last year’s Brazilian Grand prix almost made it impossible for qualifying to go ahead. A new rule sets what will happen should that scenario ever play out:
“In the exceptional circumstance that the qualifying session does not take place at a competition, and with acceptance of the stewards that the session cannot take place, the grid for the race will be defined based upon the drivers’ championship classification. In such circumstance, the procedure defined in article 42.3 shall be applied using the drivers’ championship classification of each driver instead of their qualifying session classification, all drivers shall be considered to be classified.
“If neither of the methods of forming the grid for the race described above can be applied, the formation of the grid for the race shall be at the sole discretion of the stewards.”
No more bonus point for fastest lap
Norris scored the final bonus point for fastest lap
Formula One Management made lots of noise about respecting the sport’s heritage when it made the curious decision to reinstate the bonus point for fastest lap in 2018. It was originally used between 1950 and 1959, then dropped for almost six decades.
Last year it quietly announced the rule was being dropped for 2025. It later indicated the controversy at the Singapore Grand Prix, where Red Bull’s B-team driver Daniel Ricciardo prevented championship contender Lando Norris from scoring the bonus point, was the motivation.
Formula 1 writing new rules for specific races feels like the thin end of the wedge. This is what the series has done in reaction to last year’s processional race in Monaco, where drivers were able to complete their single mandatory tyre change during a red flag period on the first lap.
This year, in Monaco only, they’ll have to make two pit stops. F1 has therefore created the bizarre circumstance where the only race which is required to be shorter than the regulation length, by 45 kilometres, is also the only one where drivers must change tyres twice.
Changes to communication of ‘full wet’ tyre requirement
Several causes in the regulations relating to the circumstances under which race control will require drivers to use full wet weather tyres have been revised. A new rules has been inserted to the regulations on formation laps behind the Safety Car which states how this requirement will be communicated to teams:
“If the race director does not deem it necessary to mandate the use of wet-weather tyres, at the five (5) minute signal the orange lights of the safety car will be illuminated; this being the signal to the drivers that the formation lap(s) will take place behind the safety car. At the same time this will be confirmed to all competitors using the official messaging system.”
Changes to starting procedure
Following recent cases in which the correct starting procedures were not followed, notably in Interlagos last year and Monza the year before, the FIA has extensively rewritten the section of the rules governing starting procedures.
The revisions cover procedures and penalties relating to drivers starting from the pit lane and cars failing to leave the grid, as well as how extra formation laps and aborted starts are to be handled. The details are covered in articles 44, 45, 47 and 49 of the Sporting Regulations.
Another change seemingly prompted by a development in a race last year. Sergio Perez was given a three-place grid penalty for driving his Red Bull back to the pits with his rear wing hanging off. The team later admitted they decided not to leave his car on the track to avoid triggering a Safety Car period, while their other car was leading. The race director now has the power to order a team to stop a badly damaged car.
The addition of 10 words to the rule on unsafe releases could result in more drivers being caught out if their teams send them out of their pit boxes too soon. The regulation now reads: “Cars must not be released from a garage or pit stop position in way that could endanger pit lane personnel or another driver, or that is likely to cause damage to another car” (new part in italics).
Since 2023’s excruciatingly hot Qatar Grand Prix, the FIA has been working on how to enforce the use of cooling aids to reduce the risk of harm to drivers. It will now issue a Heat Hazard warning if conditions are forecast to be hotter than 31C (previously 30.5C).
The intention is this will be used to force drivers to use the Driver Cooling System. However, for this year, the rules stop short of enforcing that (contrary to this article on the official F1 website). “Any driver may elect not to wear any items of personal equipment that form part of the driver cooling system,” state the rules.
Testing
New limit on running older cars
Hamilton has been busy in Ferrari’s old cars
New restrictions on how often teams may conducted testing of previous cars (TPC) were agreed last year. An extra limit is imposed on TPC involving drivers entered in the championship.
As F1 will introduce new, smaller tyres next year, a special test has been arranged to follow the final race of the season. The teams must use the adapted ‘mule’ cars designed to simulate next year’s lower downforce levels for this test.
Teams won’t have to worry about replacing gearboxes
In an unusual change, article 29 has been struck from the rule book completely. This limited how many gearbox parts each driver could use over the season. The FIA agreed to drop this requirement due to the reliability of current designs, so any driver who uses more than five gearbox case and cassette sets, or gearbox drivelines and associated parts, will not be penalised.
The limits on how many power unit components teams may use remains as before.
Tougher wing stiffness checks
The FIA is eager to rein in teams’ use of aeroelastic components in their wings – i.e., designs which deform at high speed to boost performance. Tighter tests for rear wings will be imposed from round one, and front wing will be subject to more demanding checks from round nine.
Cars get heavier again
The FIA intends to begin reversing the gradual increase in F1 car weights next year. But for now they’ve gone up again, finally reaching the milestone of 800 kilograms.
The latest rise was agreed to allow the minimum weight for drivers to rise from 80kg to 82kg. This allowance was introduced five years ago and this its first increase since then.
The FIA now has the power to appoint four stewards instead of three (in addition to the driver representative) at some rounds of the world championship. This has been introduced to speed up decision-making at rounds where the workload tends to be higher.
New guideline penalties for ‘misconduct’
Leclerc was fined for swearing in Mexico last year
The FIA’s prosecution of drivers for what it calls “misconduct” has become a significant bone of contention between the two parties. The FIA’s definition of misconduct remains largely unchanged, although in addition to banning “language… that is offensive, insulting, coarse, rude or abusive” and assault, the International Sporting Code now also prohibits “incitement to do” those actions.
Alongside this, the FIA has introduced a series of escalating penalties for drivers who commit multiple infringements of the rules. The upshot is Formula 1 drivers can expect a fine of up to €40,000 for swearing, though exactly when they are at risk of this is a significant grey area. Official FIA press conferences are likely to attract the most attention, though some drivers went unpunished for using profanity in those last year.
Update: This article originally stated the option for race control to require the use of full wet weather tyres in some conditions had been dropped. It has been revised to clarify this is not the case.
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