Justin Hynes reports
29/10/02: Formula One will revert to two-day qualifying and introduce a new points structure for 2003 as part of a package of changes designed to rejuvenate the sport's television figures.
Ferrari's 15-win domination of the 2002 season and Michael Schumacher's lifting of the title by round 11 of the 17-race series saw a massive decline in television audiences for a sport reliant on its global appeal and radical changes were forecast for the sport.
Initial suggestions from FIA president Max Mosley and F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone had centred on the rotation of drivers between teams and the weighting of successful teams' cars with 1kg of ballast per point scored in order to level the Formula One playing field. But yesterday, at a meeting of team bosses and the sport's mandarins at Heathrow Airport, radical change was rejected in favour of a more conservative range of rule alterations which will significantly affect Grand Prix weekends next season.
Qualifying, currently a one-hour shoot-out on Saturday in which each driver has 12 laps to set a time for a place on the race-day grid, will now become a two-day affair, with one-hour sessions on Friday and Saturday. Instead of drivers being able to take to the track whenever they feel the time is right during those one-hour sessions, drivers will now take to the track alone and, on Friday, in championship order, with the series leader doing his laps first. This should, in theory, slightly handicap the championship leaders, as traditionally circuits improve during the course of qualifying as more rubber is laid down on the track. In Saturday's session the fastest driver from Friday will be the last man out.
The Friday session will be used to determine which slot a driver receives in the crucial hour on Saturday. Tracks traditionally improve through qualifying and the securing on Friday of a late Saturday slot could boost a driver's grid placing significantly. The only risk to teams is of rain during a Saturday session which may hamper a given slot.
This, though, is obviously what the FIA hopes - that the variables will be increased and grids will become more interesting than the current situation of the front row being packed with championship leading drivers and teams.
The sport's rulemakers also hope a single flying lap for each driver each day will prove more exciting than the current arrangement. Certainly drivers will be under greater pressure with only one chances to secure a good grid position, and that dependent on the slot they secure in the session based on their Friday time. The balance between running to the limit while being cautious enough to avoid mishap could prove intriguing.
The second major change involves re-working the sports' points structure.
Currently the first six home are awarded points in gradations of 10, six, four, three, two and finally one for sixth place. Under the 2003 rules, victory will still count for 10 points, but the second-placed driver will receive eight points, third will receive six and points will then decrease by one all the way to eighth.
The reorganised points system appears simple but may turn out to be the most effective measure in balancing out Ferrari's domination. The increased points available for lower podium and off-podium positions means that the championship battle will remain closer for longer.
In a move to aid the financially less well off teams, the FIA have decreed that if teams wish they can undertake to run fewer than 10 days testing a year and thus earn access to a new Friday morning test session from 9-11 a.m. at which they will be able to run test cars and drivers. Teams who maintain their normal test schedule will not have access to this session.
The final measures to be adopted in 2003 are less clear cut and are again likely to cause some controversy. After incidents in Austria and the US, in which Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello arranged the destination of victory between them, team orders which influence a race victory have been outlawed. Like electronics, this could be difficult for the FIA to police. While blatant arrangement of victory, as was seen in Austria when Barrichello moved across to allow Schumacher to win just yards from the chequered flag, is no longer likely to be seen, team orders could still be imposed, with less obvious moves, such as the strategic manipulation of pit stop windows, used to impose team orders.
The new rule influencing tyres is also unlikely to find support, at least from within tyre manufacturers Michelin and Bridgestone. According to the new regulations, tyre companies will be allowed to tailor tyres to the requirements of partner teams. In effect, this means that in, say, the case of Jordan, whose cars in recent years have had the reputation of using rear tyres heavily, the team could request a specific tyre for a given event, a preference which may alter at the following event.
With Bridgestone currently supplying four teams and Michelin supplying six, tailoring their tyres to each team's preferences at each event would result in a massive hike in costs and is unlikely to be taken up.
The final decision taken yesterday was to strike the Belgian Grand Prix from the calendar, reducing the season to 16 races. This came as no surprise. The race through the Ardennes has been under threat for some time due to Belgium's banning of cigarette advertising from the middle of next year, meaning that cars would have to run unbranded during the race weekend originally pencilled in for September next year
