Alternate Formula One Current Era rules

Work in progress

1 Entries

1.1 At the start of any F1 season, thirteen two-car teams are permitted entry in the world championships.
1.1.1 Any team that is to be permitted entry into a F1 season must provide the FIA with proof of ability to compete the entire F1 season.1
1.1.2 Any team that has been granted entry into a F1 season may only be denied entry for the upcoming season. A valid entry may only be revoked during the season if allowing a team to further compete in F1 would endanger the lives of drivers or other persons.
1.1.3 In case a team is denied entry for an upcoming season, a new team is to be allowed entry into F1, providing it is able to provide proof of financial and sporting ability in accordance with rule 1.1.1.
1.1.3.1 Should, for whatever reason, no new team be granted entry in accordance to rule 1.1.3, team(s) with a valid F1 entry will be requested to run three cars instead of two. The FIA and FOM are to assist those teams financially as far as needed for running a third car.2
1.1.3.2 The order in which team(s) may be approached in accordance with rule 1.1.3.1 will be decided on a case-to-case basis.
1.2 Any valid F1 entry must be held by a seperate, economically-independent entity.3
1.2.1 Any valid F1 entry must run a new chassis each calendar year. This chassis must not be produced by economical entity holding the entry, must however be independently designed from the chassis of other valid F1 entries.
1.2.2 Technical and sporting cooperation between valid F1 entries is permitted, as long as rule 1.2.1 is not violated.
1.3 Any valid F1 entry is made under one specific name. This name may not be changed during the calendar year the entry is valid for. However, adding or removing a company or a brand as a sponsor is permitted. The name of the sponsor may either be added to the front or the end of the entry's name.
1.3.1 Any team changing their name in a signficant manner forfeits their price money and FOM payouts from the previous calendar year and will be considered a new entry.
1.3.2 Any valid F1 entry may run under the license of one country recognised by the United Nations. This country's anthem will be played if a driver entered by the team wins a F1 race. The license of the team is not required to be the from the same country it is operating its F1 entry out of.
1.4 Any valid F1 entry may pick two consecutive race numbers that will be permanently allocated to the entry, such numbers must then be used by that team during every F1 race weekend the team enters under. 1.4.1 Numbers may be chosen from numbers 3-120, with the numbers 4, 13 and 17 banned for use due to their association with misfortune and number 69 banned for being considered inappropriate.
1.4.2 The order of choice is determined by the date in time a team is assigned a valid F1 entry.4
1.4.3 During the first month of a calendar year, any valid F1 entry may enquire the FIA about changing the numbers of their entry.
1.4.4 Any team changing their name as determined in rule 1.3.1 may either keep the numbers associated with their previous entry or pick new ones.

2 Drivers

2.1 Driver Requirements

2.1.1 A driver in accordance to the following rules is considered a human being that is hired by a team with a valid F1 entry to drive one of their two cars at any part of a F1 race weekend or hired to take over driving one of their two cars if required.
2.1.2 Any driver entered for a F1 race weekend must possess a superlicense and pass physical tests before the start of the race weekend regarding the ability to leave his car in a predetermined amount of time and the state of his reflexes. 2.1.3 A superlicense is handed out to any racing driver that fulfills the following sporting requirements.5.
-- Participation in at least 20 car races above the karting level
-- At least 5 wins and/or pole positions in those races
-- Completion of at least half a F1 race distance in accordance with rule 3.3.1 (eighty km, fifty miles)
2.1.3.1 In order to be granted a superlicense, a driver has to provide the FIA with evidence of possesion of a national racing license.
2.1.3.2 Superlicenses are only granted to drivers who will reach the age of at least 19 within the calendar year the superlicense is valid for.
2.1.3.3 Should a driver have proven sufficient talent without fulfilling the conditions named in rule 2.1.3, the FIA may grant a superlicense, if the driver proves able to complete twice a F1 race distance in accordance with rule 3.3.1 (threehundred-twenty km, twohundred miles).6
2.1.4 Any granted superlicense may be withdrawn by the FIA without having to justify the withdrawal with one race weekend notice, if allowing the driver to further compete in F1 would endanger the lives of drivers or other persons.
2.1.5 A driver may either compete for one country recognised by the United Nations he is a citizen of or for the country the national license required to be granted a superlicense as determined by rule 2.1.3.1. This country's anthem will be played if the driver wins a F1 race.

3 Race Weekend

3.1 Each race weekend consists of the following: two hundred-twenty minute practice sessions on Friday, one qualifying session and one race on Saturday and Sunday each.
3.1.2 Unless local circumstances require a different schedule, the sessions are to take place during the following hours:
-- 1st Free Practice: 10:00-12:00 a.m. local time
-- 2nd Free Pratice: 3:00-5:00 p.m. local time
-- Qualifyings: 10:00-10:45 a.m. local time
-- Races: 3:00-4:30 p.m. local time

3.2 Practice and Qualifying

3.2.1 During the first free pratice, F1 teams may use a driver with previous Formula 1 experience to execute testing on the car outside of the usual testing and upgrade windows. The use of this driver must be announced before the start of the season and results in the team giving up one development token.
3.2.2 The end of the second free practice is the deadline for any driver changes. After that deadline, teams may only replace their driver with either any of the test drivers present at the track in obeyance of rule 2.2.1 or the designated reserve driver of the team (if applicable).
3.2.3 Qualifying consists of a three-stage knockout session, each stage lasting eleven minutes with a six-minute break between each stage. After the first stage ("Q1"), the eight slowest cars are eliminated from the competition and will start in P19-26 in order of fastest laps set during the stage. After the second stage ("Q2"), the eight slowest remaining cars are eliminated from the competition and will start in P11-18 in order of fastest laps set during the stage. The remaining cars will start P1-P10 in order of the fastest laps during the third stage ("Q3")
3.2.3.1 Any car that sets more than twelve laps during a stage (outlaps and inlaps included) will have their time for that stage deleted.
3.2.3.2 Any malicious impediment of other drivers during a qualifying stage is punished by demoting the driver five places in the starting grid.
3.2.3.3 Any grid penalties as determined in rules 3.2.3.1, 3.2.3.2 and ... are applied to the grid at the conclusion of the third stage. Any car that would drop to a place below P25 as result of an applied grid penalty will instead be placed in P26. If this applies to more than one car, the cars are sorted at the back of the grid by their grid position before the penalty.7
3.2.4 Before the start of a qualifying session, the five finishers heading the running order at the end of the last lap of the race will be equipped with scaled success ballast. This success ballast is removed at the end of qualifying. 8
3.2.4.1 The success ballast gained in accordance with rule 1.2.4 must be added for every remaining qualifying session of the success ballast period afterwards. A success ballast period consists of three race weekends.
3.2.4.2 There is no limit to the total amount of success ballast a car may recieve.
3.2.4.3 Rule 2.2.4 does not apply during the final race weekend of a season.
3.2.5 Should circumstances require qualifying to be canceled, cars will start in an order in accordance to their drivers' finishing position in the last WDC. Drivers that have not taken part in last season's WDC will be placed at the back in order of their current WDC position.

2.3 Race

3.3.1 Each of the two races of a race weekend is to last either for as many laps necessary to complete a distance of more than hundred-sixty km (hundred miles) or for a duration of ninety minutes, whichever occurs first.
3.3.1.2 Race control may end a race with a red flag even before the required distance has been completed, if continuing the race could endanger drivers or other persons or would lead to less than ten cars being classified.
3.3.1.3 A race may not be restarted after its conclusion, regardless whether the race ended by achieving the required distance or by race control ending the race with a red flag.
3.3.2 The race result is the running order after the conclusion of the final lap after the application of eventual penalties. Cars that have not completed the final lap of the race are still considered classified if they have completed at least ninety percent of the race distance. World championship points (see rule ...) are handed out on the basis of the race result.
3.3.1.2 In case of race control ending the race with red flag, the race result is the running order of the last lap before the red flag after the application of eventual penalites. Only cars that have completed the last lap before the red flag are considered classified, unless that would cause less then ten cars to be classified. In that case, retired cars will be considered classified until there are at least 10 classified cars.
3.3.3 All cars are required to perform two pitstops during the race. For the purpose of this rule, a pitstop is defined as a tyre change undertaken in the pitlane by the mechanics of the team running the car. These stops may be undertaken at any point during the race, except for the final two laps of the race.
3.3.3.1 Any car that fails to perform either or both of the required pitstops will be excluded from the race results in addition to the penalties defined in rule ...
3.3.3.2 Any car that retires before having undertaken the requied pitstops but is still classified is to be treated in accordance with rule 2.3.3.1.

4 FIA Young Driver's Draft

4.1 Every uneven calendar year, a FIA Young Driver's Draft is held in the officies of a FIA member association in any of the five draft regions (Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Oceania & Africa). The location of the draft goes around in a rotation between all five draft regions.
4.2 Each team that is entered into the Formula One season for the calendar year of the draft may pick one of twenty-five drivers. With the exception of thirty minutes before the start of the drafting ceremoney and thirty minutes after the end thereof, each team may exchange possesion of draft picks in exchange for contracts of personnel, cash payments and/or other draft picks with other F1 teams. Has a team failed to notify the FIA president of their draft choice and has not sent someone sufficiently authoritised to make the choice for the team until abovementioned time period before the draft ceremony, their draft pick will be made available to all teams with the highest bidder being given the pick, regardless of the absent team's agreement.
4.2.1 Draftees may be traded like draft picks. The "right of first refusal" (see rule 1.4) is transfered to the new team. This may not occur when a draftee is under a valid racing contract with the drafting team. Any potential contracts of draftee with the old team as far as rule 1.5 is concerned are still in place, i.e. the driver may refuse a contract offer by the new team if he has fulfilled a contract period with the old team.
4.3 The twenty-five draftees are invited to the draft at the discretion of the FIA, with each of the regions mentioned in rule 3.1 being allocated five slots in the draft. Outside of the general age limits of the superlicense rules, there is no need to provide the requirements of a normal superlicense application.
4.4 For the next four seasons after being drafted (the calendar year of the draft included), the drafted team has a right of first refusal. During that time period, any offer of a F1 drive made to the draftee may be matched by the drafting team to hire the driver instead. Should the team chose to not match the offer, the team forfeits the "right of first refusal" as well as any other rights to the draftee.
4.4.1 An offer is considered "matched" by the Contract Recognition Board if the driver in question is offered either the same or a higher basic wage, exactly the same contract length and exactly the same role in the team. Performance-related financial clauses and driver/team options are considered irrelevant.
4.4.2 If, due to other valid contracts, the team is unable to provide the draftee with the matched role within the team at that point in time, the offer can still be matched. The draftee in question will be taking over the role of the currently signed driver at the first opportunity.
4.5 Any draftee must accept the first contract offer made by the drafting team, as long as that contract offer does not violate FIA rules and/or international or domestic laws. This rule only applies to the very first contract, no matter for how long that contract is signed. After the first contract has expired or been terminated, the draftee may chose to reject offers but is still bound to rules 4.4, 4.4.1 and 4.4.2 as long as the drafting team has the "right of first refusal".
4.6 Drafted drivers may be assigned to other teams. For the purposes of rules 4.2.1 and 4.5, any contract signed in this manner will be treated as if the contract was signed with the drafting team.
4.7 The "right of first refusal" is associated to a valid F1 entry in accordance with rule 1.1. Any team changing the name of or abandoning their entry forfeits the rights to their draft picks.
4.7.1 The "right of first refusal" for traded draftees is not returned to the original drafting team, even if all rights are forfeited by the new team.

Meta Notes

• 1 - A team's budget must be above or equal €0 after all pre-season costs and incomes are accounted for, a team must be able to at least pay the average price of the cheapest engine manufacturer if there is no existing engine contract.
• 2 - Due to the nature of Grand Prix 2, 26 entries are required, so even if the waiting list is empty, there must be 26 cars.
• 3 - Only one team per user, no designated feeder teams (e.g. Prodrive F1, Scuderia Toro Rosso).
• 4 - Number choice is FIFO in order of position on the waiting list.
• 5 - For fictional drivers, only canon races apply in determining whether a driver has fulfilled these conditions.
• 6 - A driver that would get a special exception has to take part in a mid-season test before being allowed to start a race.
• 7 - Grid penalties in Grand Prix 2 amounts to a driver losing x.xx % of his performance and qualifying being simulated as usual, with laptimes moved to simulate the penalty.
• 8 - Success ballast in Grand Prix 2 amounts to a grip loss of 100 points for the first placed-driver, 80 points for the second-placed driver, 60 points for the third-placed driver, 40 points for the fourth-placed driver and 20 points for the fifth-placed driver.