2006 sporting regs:official

[Marbot]

Here are the 2006 sporting regs

[Dutton]

I am in the middle of printing them out, in order that Ican sit and read through them in comfort, but ahave a query.

It appears the contents page ends up being 1 page out kilter with the actual contents (that is, there is one less page that hte contents say), which means that thing end up bbeing a page earlier than the contents say.

Still, it is no overly big deal.

[Louis B.]

"... any accident involving more than one car will be investigated after the race" for the purpose of apportionning blame I guess.

[Louis B.]

Originally Posted by Dutton

It appears the contents page ends up being 1 page out kilter with the actual contents (that is, there is one less page that hte contents say), which means that thing end up bbeing a page earlier than the contents say.

This additionnal page is blank and is held by Max Mosley such that he may fill it in as he deems it fit to spice up things as the season unfold.

[Dutton]

Article 87(a) reads:

Each driver may use no more than one engine for two consecutive Events in which his team competes. Should an engine change be carried out before the end of the qualifying practice session any drivers concerned will drop ten places on the starting grid at that Event for each change that takes place. Unless the driver fails to finish the race (see below) the engine fitted to the car at the end of the Event must remain in it until the end of the next. Any driver who failed to finish the race at the first of the two Events for reasons beyond the control of the team or driver, may start the second with a different engine without a penalty being incurred.

The part that interests me, with regards this post, is the part I put in bold.

Then we have Article 130(c), which reads:

Any driver who incurs a penalty under Article 87(a), and as a result is placed behind the last car from the first period of qualifying, will take precedence over any driver who incurs a penalty under Article 87(c). Both of the above will take precedence over any driver whose qualifying times have been deleted for any reason.

The part that interests me here is what I gave put in bold.

Although, in my opinion, Article 87(c) does not really need to be cited here, since it is referred to in Article 130(c), I will provide it uncase people are wondering. It reads:

Should an engine change be carried out after the qualifying practice session at either of the two Events, any drivers concerned will be required to start the relevant race from the back of the starting grid in accordance with Article 130.

Anyway, I am confused by a potential contradiction/my mis-interpretation. I will now repeat the parts of Articles 87(a) and 130(c) that, when taken together, cause my question to arise.

Article 87(a) extract:

Should an engine change be carried out before the end of the qualifying practice session any drivers concerned will drop ten places on the starting grid at that Event for each change that takes place.

Now I have my previously bolded section extracted, I have provided an additional point of interest, in bold, with-in the extract itself.

Article 130(c) extract:

Any driver who incurs a penalty under Article 87(a), and as a result is placed behind the last car from the first period of qualifying

The bold here indicates the point of interest.

Right, so:

1)i) An engine change during qualifying wil result in a ten-place penalty on the grid for that race.

ii) There is a cummulative effect for multiple replacements (i.e. two engine replacements = 20 place penalty).

Now, is Article 130(c) referring to a situation whereby the 10-place (or 20, or 30, or whatever) equals 20th or greater? Or is it implying that that a penalty under Article 87(a) would automatically mean the back of the grid?

If it means the latter, then that would provide the confusion I was talking about.

However, come to think of it, it must be reffering only to cases where the engine penalty would put them right at the back (so a penalty from 3rd to 13th remains just that).

*******

I have worked through the issue in my head in the process of producing this post, so, I believe, this is actually a non-issue. This has, however, taken sometime to produce; therfore, I refuse to delete the typing and let it all be in waste.

Thus I have posted it anyway, but perhaps it will help someone else out who was having the same confusion as me.

[Bleu]

I think it is unlikely with next year's qualifying rules, but I think it is about following:

Coulthard (just an example driver) has engine change so he gets 10-place penalty.

During qualifying, Heidfeld (another example driver) spins out on his first lap of "first" session. He will not set a time during the session.

Coulthard is 15th fastest in qualifying, and after he gets penalty he should be last. But, as Heidfeld didn't set a time, Heidfeld will start from the last place of the grid and DC from penultimate spot.

[Dutton]

In that siutation, that is what would happen.

Absolutely.