Eight Rule Changes You Need To Know Ahead Of The 2025 Formula One Season 6q4w5y

Testing for the 2025 Formula One season gets underway in Bahrain on Wednesday ahead of next month’s opening race in Australia, and there are a number of rule changes to be aware of.

While next year will see a major overhaul of the technical regulations, there are still a number of important tweaks this year.

They include changes to the points system, the Monaco Grand Prix and what punishments drivers will receive for swearing.

Formula One Rule Changes For 2025 Season 6r3r32

Fastest Lap Point Is Gone 6s2o3f

The most controversial rule change for the 2025 Formula One season is that the fastest lap point is no more.

Introduced in 2019, it added an interesting element to the end of the race when the finishing positions have more often than not been essentially decided.

However, it often went to the driver who had a buffer to the car behind them as they had time to pit for fresh tyres.

There was also times where cars outside the top 10 – not eligible for the point – pitted to take the point away from another driver even if they weren’t going to score themselves.

Daniel Ricciardo grabbed the fastest lap as a farewell gift at the Singapore Grand Prix last year – taking the point away from the championship contenders even though he couldn’t receive it for finishing outside the top 10.

The fastest lap bonus point is to be dropped from the 2025 season following a meeting of the FIA's World Motor Sport Council#F1 | Full story 👇https://t.co/Suqsf2SsPj

— Formula 1 (@F1) October 17, 2024

More Practice Running For Rookies 3i2l53

The mandatory running for rookie drivers in FP1 has been increased for the 2025 season.

This will give double the amount of track time during a race weekend for those who have participated in no more than two F1 races during their career.

The 20 drivers on the Formula One grid will now have to sit out two FP1 sessions each this year to give aspiring future stars a chance.

Limited Testing For Old Cars 3d1y70

Another rule change for the 2025 Formula One season is the amount of time drivers can test old cars.

To get around limited pre-season testing, teams have let their drivers use old cars to get some extra mileage in.

However, an agreement has been reached to put limitations on that. The allowance for testing of previous cars (TPC) – aged between two and four years old – has been restricted.

Teams are now allowed a maximum of 20 days of TPC running over an entire season. However, the drivers in the championship are limited to 1,000km over a maximum of four days.

Stricter Punishments On Swearing s6611

This is something that started to take effect at the end of last year as Max Verstappen was ordered to do the Formula One equivalent of ‘community service’ in Rwanda for describing his Red Bull car as “s***”.

Charles Leclerc was just given a £7,700 fine for swearing after he quickly apologised after doing so.

Drivers’ comments and actions are due to be subject to more stringent regulation and stricter punishment this year.

A first offence carries a maximum of £33,800 fine; a second offence a maximum of £67,600 fine and suspended one-month suspension and a third offence a maximum £101,000 fine and one-month ban.

Verstappen was not happy with the new rules, telling reporters as per Planet F1: “Yeah, I prefer not to speak about that, it might get me in trouble. So it’s better not to answer that.”

He later elaborated: Yeah, I mean it’s a lot of money. Honestly, from my side, I think it’s not necessary to be like that with the rules, I think you need to use a bit of common sense.

“Besides that, I prefer that we actually focus on other topics to try and improve safety, try and improve the overall performance of Formula 1 cars, instead of actually having to focus on all these kinds of things – it’s a bit unnecessary.”

Max Verstappen when asked about the FIA cracking down on drivers swearing 🤐 pic.twitter.com/j5fWMinljX

— ESPN F1 (@ESPNF1) February 18, 2025

Qualifying Rule Changes For 2025 Formula One Season 32695u

Last year’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix raised the possibility of qualifying not being possible due to the weather.

From this year, if qualifying can’t go ahead, the grid will be decided upon the Drivers’ Championship qualification. The same will also apply for the sprint qualifying sessions.

If qualifying can’t go ahead in the season opener, then a grid order will be decided by the stewards.

Also, if there are a number of cars that don’t set a lap time in either Q1, Q2, or Q3 – then the order from from the previous race weekend session will be used.

Rule Changes On DRS Designs And Wings 462n32

McLaren caused a stir last year with their ‘Mini-DRS’ where their rear wing bent back at high speed. This allowed them to boost straightline speed.

The team agreed to make modifications towards the end of the 2024 season. Rule changes to the 2025 Formula One season will try to prevent anyone trying to do something similar.

This involves reducing the slot gap from between 10-15mm to 9.4-13mm. The upper boundary still remains at 85mm when the DRS is open.

New and more stringent deflection tests on the rear wing will be carried out from the opening race. Other tests on the front wing will be introduced from the Spanish Grand Prix.

Mandatory Driver Cooling System For 2025 Formula One Season 1j4e3j

Drivers struggled massively with heat and humidity during the Qatar Grand Prix in 2023.

Temperatures in the cockpit reached nearly 50 degrees Celsius. Esteban Ocon revealed he vomited in his helmet during the race, Lance Stroll said that he had been ing out in the car while Alex Albon and Fernando Alonso struggled to get out of their cars post-race.

As a result, another rule change for the 2025 Formula One season is the introduction of a new cooling system.

When conditions reach an excess of 30.5°C – the governing body will declare there is a heat hazard.

Teams will then have to fit a battery-powered cooling vest that pumps a coolant around the driver’s body.

Rule Change For The Monaco Grand Prix Only 4c4h15

It’s safe to say the racing at the Monaco Grand Prix isn’t always the most entertaining.

This is down to wide racing cars driving through the streets of a tight and twisty street circuit.

In dry Monaco races, most of the interest comes through the pit strategy. So while every other race has a mandatory one pit-stop rule, each driver will have to pit twice in Monaco.