FIA wrestle back power from teams

The FIA have taken back some power from Formula 1 teams in a bid to protect them from themselves in "exceptional circumstances".

Under former FIA regulations, Formula 1 teams needed to be in unanimous in their agreement to make changes to the regulations. Now the situation has changed.

It is understood that the move was made after Ferrari stated that they would need to "look at other further options for deploying our racing DNA" should Formula 1 implement a $130 million budget cap.

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This new regulation will allow the FIA to intervene and allow a decision to be made by a majority vote.

There are of course alliances between teams, for example, between Ferrari and the two teams they supply power units to - Haas and Alfa Romeo - but no existing alliance would be enough to prevent a decision by majority.

The full FIA statement reads;

The World Motor Sport Council approves measures to allow the FIA to make swift regulatory changes by majority under exceptional circumstances.

In view of the unparalleled COVID-19 crisis, the FIA continues to make changes to its regulatory processes to mitigate the impact wherever possible and safeguard the sport for the future. Therefore, in addition to previously announced changes to specific championship sporting and technical regulations, the World Motor Sport Council has now approved the introduction of a safeguard clause in the International Sporting Code.

The safeguard clause will overcome the current requirement to obtain the unanimous agreement of all competitors to amend regulations within an individual FIA championship, cup, etc., allowing the FIA, under certain exceptional circumstances, to modify regulations with a shorter notice period and with the agreement of the majority of the competitors properly entered for the FIA championship, cup, etc. concerned.

The updated clause is as follows: 18.2.4 Shorter notice periods than those mentioned above may be applied, provided that the unanimous agreement of all Competitors properly entered for the Championship, cup, trophy, challenge or series concerned is obtained. However, in exceptional circumstances, and if the FIA considers that the change in question is essential for the safeguarding of the Championship, cup, trophy, challenge or series concerned, the agreement of the majority of the Competitors properly entered shall suffice.

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