Last Updated on May 2 2025, 12:01 pm
Once the game has begun, changing the rules before it finishes is considered to be unfair. There would be questions asked about the motivation to change the regulations together with someone who benefits more than another. This is why rule changes mid-season in Formula One are a rare thing.
Of course the FIA will tidy up grey areas with technical directives, but something like changing tyre compounds (done once for safety) will affect the pecking order, with some teams winning whilst others lose out.
However, Formula One has a problem at present and much of it is around the design regulations for the cars. There are fixes coming next year to reduce the amount of dirty air a driver behind an other car suffers, but for now this is proving a significant issue, with four of the first five Grand Prix this year being won from pole position.
Pirelli attempts to spice up F1 racing
Formula One’s tyre supplier Pirelli have this year added a sixth compound to the range of dry weather tyres from which they select three for a Grand Prix weekend. Numbered C0-C5 with the softest being the higher numbered compound, Pirelli have made the entire range a step softer this year in an effort to increase the number of pit stops and create more interesting race strategies.
Pirelli also always bring tyres consecutively numbered but reports from the paddock suggest this is all under urgent review. With the entire tyre range this year being a step softer than last, the same numbered compounds were selected by Pirelli for the opening four rounds of the year. Then in Jeddah they chose C3, C4, C5 to replace the 2024 range which were C2, C3, C4, yet the Grand Prix was another less interesting one stop race with little overtaking on track.
Concerns have been growing the 2025 championship could be reduced to one decided by Saturday qualifying, with four of the five Grand Prix to date having been won from pole position. TV images showed Stefano Domenicali deep in conversation with Mario Isola come the end of the recent event in Saudi Arabia.
The discussions are allegedly centred around Pirelli making changes to their originally expected tyre range selections for each race venue going forward. This could see tyres selected which are two steps softer than in 2024 and in certain cases a drastic three degrees of change where considered necessary.
Tyres two steps softer for Miami
One further suggestion is that Pirelli stop bringing consecutive tyres from their range of six. So a race weekend could see the C2, C4 and C5 selected. This would certainly shake things up amongst the team strategists, who have no historic data that would represent this kind of tyre choice.
For the Miami Grand Prix, Pirelli have brought tyres a step softer than for last year, selecting the C3, C4 and C5 for the coming weekend. There was little difference between the performance last yaar of the C2, C3 and C4 tyres, with most team’s opting for a one stop race and thetoming of the pit stops was significantly affected by a VSC which then becomes a full safety car.
So with the range a step softer than in 2024 and then tyres selected for Miami being a step softer, the teams and drivers are in for a challenging single practice session before Sprint Qualifying on Friday afternoon. There are large thunderstorms expected around the time of Saturday’s Sprint event, which could throw all the teas plans into question should the wet weather tyres be required.
The FIA are also considering another regulation change which may tempt teams into making more than one pit stop, a decision often affected significantly by the length of the pit lane at any given circuit. The greater the distance the cars have top travel whilst not a racing speeds often forces the teams into saving time by doing just one stop if possible.
Pit lane speeds increased
Of course its not the matter of the moment to ‘shorten’ many of the venues worst culprits in this regards, however looping the speed limit the cars can travel within the pit lane would mitigate the total time lost when changing tyres.
Of course the downside is there will be F1 cars travelling more quickly in the pit lane, which will do more damage should they collide with one of the 150 mechanics involved across the field in pit stops. Pit lane speed limits were first implement in 1993 but just for practice sessions. They became mandatory the following year with the regular speed limit set at 80kph on safety grounds since 2014.
Whilst the regular limit is unlikely to be upped, there are circuits where the speed limit is lower than 80kph due to narrow entrances, smaller garages and a host of other considerations. Paddock reports suggest Singapore and Zandvoort in particular are under consideration but for both small changes to the pit lane itself will be required.
Given the safety implications, Charles Leclerc was asked for his views on the topic ahead of the Miami Grand Prix. The Monegasque had not heard of these potential developments but thought in certain circumstances it would make sense.
Monaco mandatory 2 stop race
“I have never heard of it [the proposal], but definitely not for all races,” he assembled media in the FIA press conference. “I don’t think that will be sensible for all races. I felt like there are some tracks where it could work, but to be honest, I never thought about even doing this.
“I’ll have to look a little bit more into details and what are the implications of all these things. But as a first thought, probably on some races, it can make sense, yes.”
One other tool available to the FIA would to be simply mandate each Grand Prix be a race requiring each driver to stop for a change of tyres twice. This has been done for the 2025 Monaco Grand Prix where in 2024 for the first time in F1history, the top ten in qualifying finished the race in exactly the same positions.
All in all mid-season rule changes are frowned upon by the competitors. Yet if 2025 isn’t to go down as the least exciting for on track action, something must be done and quickly. Given the logistics issues facing Pirelli who bring over 6,000 tyres across the year to the far flung corners of the world, a decision is required quickly as the autumn flyaway race tyres are already being prepared.
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“Once the game has begun, changing the rules before it finishes is considered to be unfair. There would be questions asked about the motivation to change the regulations together with someone who benefits more than another”
Some might argue that this could also be applied to “mid – race”, or even in the last 5 laps. I on the other hand, couldnt possibly comment