Alternate Formula One Current Era rules

Unless stated otherwise by the administration, these rules apply from 2019 onwards.
These rules also apply to Alternate Formula One - Revolutionary Era, unless stated otherwise by the administration.
All rules are determined by the administration only. Suggestions for changes are very appreciated, the final decision however lies with the administration.

Entries

Any user of the GP Rejects board and/or chatroom may run one team in Alternate Formula One - Current Era; any user running a team in Alternate Formula One agrees to fulfill deadlines given by the administration unless external circumstances prevent this. The grid size is limited to 13 two-car teams.

Any user not in charge of one of the 13 active teams may join the waiting list and will be given new teams in order of joining the waiting list whenever a user decides to not continue running his team or is excluded from the series. Should less than 13 users be running a team and should there be no users on the waiting lists, the administration may ask teams chosen at its discretion to run 4 cars. Those teams will be provided with a sufficient budget to run the additional cars.

Teams are excluded from the series when they are either considered bankrupt, i.e. do not have sufficient funding to pay the average price for the weakest engine, the cheapest available chassis type and the minimum wage of two drivers, even when accounting for sponsorship. Users may also be excluded as needed by administration if they fail to meet deadlines, are permanently banned from the GP Rejects chatroom or show other behaviour making them unsuitable to keep their team. Excluded users may join the waiting list unless the administration can proof .

When a new user enters the game, he may choose to continue using the identity of the team of the user that has left to free up his space. Should he do so, his team will be, in addition to the budget for new teams, be paid €10,000,000. The budget of the new teams is determined through calculating the average of all budgets of the teams that have not been declared bankrupt by the administration and rounding that sum down to the next full million.

Any new team must give the administration a name, a nationality and a backstory to explain its entry into Alternate Formula One. Should the administration consider that backstory unsufficient, it may deny the entry. If an entry is denied, the user may choose a different name, nationality and backstory until an acceptable entry is achieved. Existing entries may only change their name and nationality with approval from the administration.

Any team may once chose a pair of consecutive racing numbers from 3-120, with the exception of numbers 4, 13, 17 and 69. These racing numbers will be used for every racing weekend the team enters. Any team must give the administration an in-character reason for using their numbers and may only change their racing numbers with the approval of the administration. The team that has the reigning World Drivers Champion under contract for the first Grand Prix weekend of the season will compete during any F1 race of the following season with the racing numbers 1 and 2. If the reigning World Drivers Champion has left the sport, no team will use the numbers 1 and 2.

Sponsorship

Each team will be offered a main sponsorship contract by two sponsors at the start of the season, which will pay certain amounts of money, depending on which driver the team hires. The two sponsors are chosen based on the given livery of a team. The conditions of those sponsors are determined in accordance with the business reality of those sponsors and the necessities of the game and are chosen by the administration as it sees fit. Any team retains the chosen sponsor one time. A team may choose to not retain a chosen sponsor and may ask the administration to replace it with another brand from the same company. There are four possible conditions to be fulfilled.

Advancement Clause - These are the sponsors that have very specific demands regarding your results. This condition will pay out €90,000,000.
Primary Target Region - The main focus of the sponsor's advertisement interests. Hiring a driver from this region will pay out €35,000,000.
Secondary Target Region - The secondary focus of the sponsor's advertisement interests. Hiring a driver from this region will pay out €25,000,000.
No Paydriver - The sponsor will support you without asking for anything but a spot on your car and in your team name. You will still recieve €15,000,000.

The Advancement Clause will be abandoned after the 2019 season. No team that used the Advancement Clause during the 2018 season may use it for the 2019 season. To fulfill the Advancement Clause, no specific driver must be signed. If the performance requirements of the Advancement Condition are not met, the entire sum must be paid back at the end of the season. Has a team selecting the Advancement Clause voluntarily hired a driver from either the Primary or Secondary Target Region, only €70,000,000 must be paid back. No team has to agree to the Advancement Clause, any team that can only pay their basic costs through the Advancement Clause is declared bankrupt.

Any Target Region driver must compete in all Grand Prix weekends of the respective Alternate Formula One season, unless injury or bans prevent a driver under contract to appear in a race. A driver from a Target Region condition can be released, as long as he is replaced with a driver that is from the same region. Should a team fail to replace the driver with a fitting one, they must return an amount of money equal to the difference between the money paid out for the specific condition and the money they would have recieved for fulfilling no condition.

A Target Region driver is hired, if a driver has the nationality of the determined Target Region out of a 13 possible regions. In case of the administration making a factual error regarding overseas territories or similar topics or the map proving unclear, the administration will decide in which region a specific driver belongs. Same also applies to dual nationalites and other fringe cases.

Switching conditions (outside of the abovementioned "move" from a condition to no condition) and/or switching sponsors during the season is not permitted.

Cars

Every team must build a new car at the start of a new season. A car consists of two elements: the engine and the chassis.

During any time during the game, five engine manufacturers are available. Four of these are represented through so-called "works teams". Should any work team change hands and should the first user on the waiting list choose to not retain the identity of the works team, the administration may choose a new manufacturer and respective works team at their own disgression.

These are the current works teams in Alternate Formula One:
Ferrari - Ferrari
Holden - Holden
Judd - Caterham
Mercedes-Benz - Precision

The four works teams are split into two manufacturers providing an I4 Turbo engine and two manufacturers providing a V10 NA engine. Every even season, the performance of all engines are randomly determined through a method considered appropriate by the administration.

Each of these four works teams is responsible for agreeing on engine contracts with the so-called "customer teams". Each engine is assigned an "Average Price". The sum of the money earned through engine contracts and the investments of the works team is, at the conclusion of the car market, compared to the result of the equation Average Price * Customers. For every million a works team takes in over that value, the engine recieves a reliability bonus of -100 CFP (capped at -800 CFP). For every million below that value, the engine gets a reliability penalty of +100 CFP (capped at +4000 CFP). This bonus/penalty applies to all customer teams and the works teams, not only those that pay too much/too little. Works teams and customer teams may also agree on clauses the customer or the works team must fulfill.

There is no upper limit to the length of an engine contract, but engine contracts can only be agreed on in full seasons. Each manufacturers is, in addition to supplying the works team, limited to three customer teams. Works teams must invest at least 70 percent of the price paid by the highest-paying customer team. Modifying an engine contract during the season is forbidden, except adding additional clauses if both the customer and the works team agree to do so. Engine deals with bankrupt teams become void, regardless of whether the new user chooses to keep or forfeit the identity of the bankrupt team.

Customer teams may also choose to purchase the fifth available engine, a hydrogen engine, which has noticeably weaker performance than any engine with an associated works team. The price for those engines is fixed. Up to three customer teams may use the fifth engine. Should more than three teams apply to use the fifth engine, priority is given to the higher-placed teams in last season's World Constructors Championship. The administration agrees to determine the teams permitted to use the fifth engine as quickly as possible.

Should a customer team fail to come to an agreement with any of the four works teams and not be eligible to use the fifth engine, the adminstration will look at all potential offers made to said team. Should it find any of those reasonable in relation to the prices other customer teams pay, it will order the customer team in question to accept the offer. Should it find none reasonable, the weakest still available engine manufacturer's works team will be requested to sell to said team at average price. The administration reserves the right to exclude users as needed if neither method results in an agreement.

Every team must build a chassis at the start of the year. Building a completely new chassis during the season is not permitted. There are multiple chassis types available, representing the amount of funding invested into their design, manufacturing and upkeep. The higher the investment, the better the chances of getting a good chassis at the start of the season. Depending on the amount invested, each team is assigned a number of Upgrade Tokens.

At the start of the year, each team hands in an upgrade plan to the administration, stating if, when and how they want to use their tokens. Tokens may be used from the start of the fourth Grand Prix weekend until the end of the second-to-last Grand Prix weekend. During this period, there is, outside of the total number of tokens, no restrictions on their use. Any token unused will be converted into a €5,000,000 bonus for the team, paid out at the end of the season. Should a team use tokens in a manner that improves their car performance to the point where it exceeds the performance levels possible with the game mechanics, any tokens that would fail to improve the car are converted into the aforementioned bonus.

Drivers

Each team must employ at least two racing drivers and may employ one "third driver"; both real-life drivers and fictional drivers are permitted. Any real-life driver that is to compete in Alternate Formula One must have taken part in at least 40 real-life car races above the karting level and must have finished in the top five of the drivers championship in any international series above the karting level in the last five years and/or have finished in the top three of the drivers championship in any national series above the karting level in the last five years or must have achieved a combination of pole positions, fastest laps of the race and race wins in any series above the karting level that adds up to 30 in the last five years. The definition of national and international follow the usual FIA standards. Any fictional driver that is to compete in Alternate Formula One must have taken part in at least 25 canon races and must have either finished in the top five of the drivers championship in any canon series in the last two years, finished in the top twenty of the drivers championship in the FIA Formula 2 World Championship in the last two years or must have achieved a combination of pole positions, fastest laps of the race and race wins in any series above the karting level that adds up to 20 in the last two years. Any driver that has entered an Alternate Formula One Grand Prix in the last four years is permitted to compete in Alternate Formula One, regardless of whether they fulfill the aforementioned criteria. Any driver that is to compete in Alternate Formula One must be at least 19 years old at the start of the calendar year he is to compete in.

Drivers can be signed at the start of the year as well as at any point during the season, except during a Grand Prix weekend. However, no driver can be hired whilst the position he is to be hired for is still occupied by another driver. Furthermore, each team is limited to five drivers unless an Act of God forces a team to hire more drivers. Due to the method of execution, a third driver serving as Friday Tester cannot be hired after the seventh Grand Prix weekend of any Alternate Formula One season. There is no limit to the amounts of offers a team can make to free agents except the mental and temporary limits of the administration.

During the Driver Market at the start of the year, each team may offer contracts to any number of drivers for each of the three driver spots available to each team. These contracts must specify the role of the driver, the driver's wage, the contract duration and state additional clauses. Each driver, regardless of contract length, role or other factors is entitled to a minimum wage of €1,000,000. If the contract goes longer than 38 races, the minimum wage must be paid again at the start of each season the driver is under contract. Contract duration must be stated in a number of races. If the contract goes longer than 38 races, the agreed wage must be paid again at the start of each season the driver is under contract. Clauses specify additional conditions and privilieges of the contract sides not covered in other parts of the contract. Clauses may not be of financial nature (e.g. bonus payments, wage reduction/addition). Furthermore, if the administration considers a clause unclear or otherwise difficult to execute, it can order the respective user to use a predetermined, driver-friendly wording. This order may also be retroactively applied to existing contracts.

For real-life drivers, a RNG will determine whether he signs the contract. The RNG values will be determined by the administration. Any RNG result is final, unless there is reasonable doubt about the quality of the RNG values. For fictional drivers, the respective DEC holder determines whether a contract offer is accepted. The administration reserves to right to override the DEC holder's decision, if the administration believes there to be a severe dissonance between the offered role/earnings by a team and the expectations said driver can reasonably be expected to have, relative to the entire Alternate Formula One field.

A driver can have one of two roles: racing driver or third driver. The two racing drivers are the drivers that actively compete during the Grand Prix weekend. The third driver has one out of three specific, predetermined jobs. A third driver may either be a Driver Coach, Friday Tester or Simulator Driver. The job of the third driver must be determined at the start of the contract and may only be changed once the contract has concluded or has been terminated.

These are the possible jobs of third drivers and the requirements to serve in that job:
Driver Coach - improves the performance of any driver under the age of 25 (requirement: third driver must be 34 years or older at the start of the calendar year he is under contract).
Friday Tester - improves the grip of your chassis with a random grip bonus from 100-350, added 10 Grand Prix weekends after signing of the third driver if in a permanent contract during this period (requirement: driver must have taken part in at least thirty Alternate Formula One Grands Prix in the last ten years, team signing the third driver must have at least two unused development token).
Simulator Tester - improves the performance of the driver when used as racing driver in the following seasons (requirement: third driver must be 26 years or younger at the start of the calendar year he is under contract).

If a team releases a driver before his contract is over, he is entitled to compensation unless a clause justifies his release or states there is no compensation to be paid. The compensation is calculated according to this formula: (Total wage/races remaining in his contract) * 2; the value is rounded down to the next million. Should that result in a sum equal to or lower than €2,000,000, the compensation is instead €2,000,000. If a team temporarily replace a driver before his contract is over, he is entitled to the same compensation, unless a clause justifies his replacement. However, to return a driver to his role, no additional wage must be paid. During an unjustified temporary replacement, any other team may sign the driver to a contract if the original team is given a pick in one of the next three FIA Young Driver's Drafts as compensation.

Regardless of any clauses, any real-life driver can be sacked without paying compensation if the driver has scored less than 20 % of the points of his teammate after 7 Grand Prix weekends after the start of his contract if said teammate has scored at least 50 points. Any fictional driver can be sacked without paying compensation if the DEC owner has made in-character comments that can be interpreted as a desire to leave the team or excessive criticism of the team as defined by the administration. Driver contracts of bankrupt teams with real-life drivers can be voided by the new user if he decides to keep the identity of the bankrupt team, driver contracts of bankrupt teams with fictional drivers can be terminated if the fictional driver is offered a contract by another team if the bankrupt team is given a pick in one of the next three FIA Young Driver's Drafts as compensation. if the user chooses to enter a new team, any existing contracts are void.

Any rules regarding temporary replacement do not apply when the driver is unavailable to compete due to injury, bans or acts of god. Any replacement driver signed to replace a driver that is unavailable to compete due to injury, bans or acts of god do not need to be paid any wage, insurance covering those costs. Should a mid-weekend replacement be required, any team may either use their third driver if he was predetermined to be either a Driver Coach or a Friday Tester or acquire the services of a third driver in either of those jobs from another team. Should no replacement be determined in time, the car of the driver to be replaced will not compete in the second Grand Prix of the weekend.

Active Alternate Formula One drivers can freely participate in other series as well. It is the responsibilty of the involved users to avoid schedule conflicts. Any time paradoxes caused by user neglience will be punished by having said driver banned from Alternate Formula One forever and any other DECs (in case of fictional drivers) by said user being banned for the rest of the currently running season. In case of a real-life driver having an unresolved schedule conflict, the team-owning user in question will be excluded from the game, regardless of whether he owns the team in the other series causing the paradox unless the series owner of that series has caused the paradox by allowing the driver in question to sign in the series despite having a F1 commitment or by modifying the schedule.

FIA and FOM offer financial support for teams signing certain drivers. Any drafted driver signed to his first contract earns his team a €5,000,000 bonus. Signing last year's F2 World Champion earns a team an €8,000,000 bonus, the second-placed driver of that series €6,000,000 and the third-placed driver of that series €4,000,000. Signing last year's F3 Eurasian Champion earns a team €3,000,000. Signing last year's IPC champion or FIA PC champion earns a team €2,000,000. All bonuses are only paid out when the driver in question is signed to a 38-race contract and must be refunded if the driver is unjustifiedly sacked.

FIA Young Driver's Draft

Before the start of every uneven season, a FIA Young Driver's Draft is held. During this draft, each of the 13 teams entered for said season may choose one of 25 selected drivers from five regions (Africa & Oceania, Asia, Europe, North America, South America). Said 25 drivers will be chosen by the FIA on the basis of achievements, nationality and background. The full draft class will be announced to the teams and the public before the end of the previous season. Any driver drafted in the FIA Young Driver's Draft can compete in Alternate Formula One, regardless of whether he meets any of the abovementioned requirements for Alternate Formula One drivers. If a driver in a draft class goes undrafted, he may not enter the draft again.

The team that has drafted a driver gets a "right of first refusal" on the drafted driver for the four seasons after the draft, starting with the uneven season of the draft itself. This right enables the drafting team to match any offer by other teams during this period, forcing the drafted driver to join the drafting team instead. To match an offer, the drafting team must offer the same or a better role (third drivers can, however, be offered a different job), the same or a better wage and the same or a shorter contract length. Should an offer be made whilst the drafting team has a driver in the offered role, the drafting team can match the offer by offering the drafted driver the job at the end of the contract of the driver in said role, unless the end of that contract is after the right of first refusal is no longer in effect.

Any drafted driver may not refuse the first contract offered by the team that drafted him during the period of the right of first refusal, unless it violates the rules of Alternate Formula One. After the conclusion or termination of the first contract, the drafted driver can refuse any contract offer by the drafting team. The right of first refusal is still valid, regardless of whether an offer by the drafting team is accepted or not. Drafted drivers can be loaned to other teams without surrendering the right of first refusal. Any contract done as part of such a loan is not considered the first contract in accordance to that rule, however, the driver may refuse such a loan deal if he his first contract has concluded or been terminated.

Draft picks and drafted drivers can be traded freely for money, drivers, engines, draft picks or drafted drivers. No team may have more than five draft picks in the same draft. Any additional picks of that team are given to the team highest-placed in the WCC that still has room for additional draft picks in that draft in exchange for picks in future drafts. The trade of a drafted driver does not reset the period for the right of first refusal, however, any contract offered by the new team is considered the first in accordance to the abovementioned rule, unless the rights of the drafted driver are returned to the drafting team through trade.

If a bankrupt team is taken over by a new user, the draft rights and eventual draft picks traded away or recieved depend on whether the user chooses to keep the identity of the bankrupt team. If the user chooses to keep the identity alive, the draft rights are retained and any deals involving draft picks are still valid. If the user chooses a new identity, the draft rights are lost forever and any deals involving draft picks are void. Should a still active user decide to rename his not-bankrupt team, the validity of draft pick deals and draft rights will be decided by the administration on a case-by-case basis. Should a fictional driver's draft rights be lost that way, the DEC holder can ask the administration to put his draft rights up for auction. The winner of that auction will recieve the draft rights as if they were traded normally. Should no team wish to acquire the draft rights, the driver in question may enter the FIA Young Driver's Draft again at the next possibility.

Should a team fail to pick a driver in the FIA Young Driver's Draft, its pick will be given to any interested team for free on a first come, first serve basis. Should no team be found, the pick is forfeited and the team in question will be fined €20,000,000.

Season

Alternate Formula One is run using Grand Prix 2. Each Alternate Formula One season consists of 19 Grand Prix weekends with two races (= 38 Grands Prix a year) running over the nearest lap above 160 km (≈ 100 miles). Of those 19 Grand Prix weekends, eight are to be held in Europe. The definition of Europe as far as this rule is concerned is determined by the administration. Until 2022, the first round of the Alternate Formula One season will be held on the Streets of Las Vegas and the final round will be held at Autódromo Internacional de Curitiba.

Before the start of a Alternate Formula One season, the following business stages are to be done in this order:
Sponsorship Choice (+ FIA Young Driver's Draft in an uneven year)
Car Market
Driver Market + Upgrade Plans

At the conclusion of the driver market, sponsor income is added to the balance of all teams. After that step is completed, all budgets of the teams must be either at or above €0. During the season, teams may only be in the minus as consequence of executing an upgrade plan. Drivers of teams that are in the minus during the season suffer a loss of morale and performance. Prize money will be applied to the budget of all teams both for individual race results as well as position in the World Constructors Championship. The key for the prize money for the latter will be determined at the end of each season to account for budget developments due to rule changes, general sportive developments or other factors. The key for race prinze money is based on the position of the better-placed car of the team and is as follows:
Winner: €4,000,000
P2-P10: €3,000,000
P11-P15: €2,000,000
P16-P26: €1,000,000
DNF: €0
Pole Position: €1,000,000

A Grand Prix weekend consists of two two-hour free practices on Friday (beginning at 10:00 and 15:00 local time), a three-stage knockout qualifying on Saturday (10:00 local time), the first Grand Prix on Saturday (15:00 local time) and another three-stage knockout qualifying and Grand Prix on Sunday (identical times). Starting hours can be modified for commercial reasons on certain tracks. Each Grand Prix has a 90-minute time limit. During either race, all cars must complete two pitstops (defined as changing all four tyres in the pitlane) between the first and the second-to-last lap. Any car failing to do so will be excluded from the race results.

After the race, the steward's panel will apply penalties for infringements commited during the race. These penalties can be applied as either fines for the team of the offender (if required to the team damaged), time penalties for this and/or the next race, exclusions from the race result, grid penaltes for the next race or bans for any number of races up to 10, depending on the severity of the infringement. Regardless of the severity of the infringement, any driver collecting 8 bans, time and/or grid penalties in one season will be banned from Alternate Formula One for the next 48 calendar months from the end of the weekend in which the final infringement was undertaken.

In addition to any grid penalties applied for sportive infringements, a five-place grid penalty will be applied to any car which had its engine or gearbox changed. Any part is used as long as possible, grid penalties are therefore applied to cars that had an engine- or gearbox-related failure within four races of their last engine- or gearbox-related failure. Unlike penalties for sportive infringements, these are transfered even when the driver in the car changes. During qualifying, success ballast is added to the first five cars that finished the previous race on the road (ignoring post-race penalties). This success ballast accumulates for 3 Grand Prix weekends before being reset. No success ballast is applied during the final Grand Prix weekend of the season.

Championship points are handed out to the first 10 finishers after penalties and exclusions have been applied. The points system is 15-12-10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 with 2 points given to the driver starting on pole position after the application of any potential grid penalties. The driver with the most points after all races have been completed is the Alternate Formula One World Drivers Champion of that season. In case of a tie, the number of wins decide. If the number of wins is equal, the amount of second places decides and so on. Should all positions be equally shared between the tying parties, the number of pole positions decide. Should those be equal as well, the position is shared between the tied drivers. The team with the most points after all races have been completed are the Alternate Formula One World Constructors Champions of that season. All drivers entered by a team can score points for the team in the World Constructors Championship. In case of a tie, the same principle as in the World Drivers Championship is applied for the tiebreaker with one exception: in case the number of pole positions does not break the tie, the higher-placed team in the World Constructors Championship of the previous year gets the position.

After each the fifth and the fourteenth Grand Prix weekend of the year, a mid-season test occurs. During that test, teams can use track time to work on four tasks, each day costing €3,000,000:
Car Development - tests new parts. For every day invested into car development, the maximum grip of a car will be raised by 0-50 points.
Long Runs - improves reliability. For every day invested into long runs, the CFP of a car will be reduced by 0-250.
Driver Performance - allows your drivers to improve. For every day invested into driver performance, the driver chosen will improve his performance by a small bit for the rest of the season.
Talent Evaluation - enables your team to assess a driver. This focus must be chosen when you use a driver not currently employed by your team.

Only with the Talent Evaluation focus can drivers that are currently not under contract be used by your team. Every team must take part in at least one session during any mid-season test.

For any gameplay element the administration reserves the right to invent an in-character reasoning should it be considered elemental to sustain the willing suspension of disbelief.