The FIA refines its rules on engine usage

The FIA wishes to refine the 2009 rules regarding the engine so that teams will not be able to change it after the start of the Saturday morning practice.

The race director, Charlie Whiting, had already stated that an engine change after qualifying would only be allowed if there was an original issue. This decision will now apply to the entire Saturday, ensuring that teams use the same engine for free practice 3, qualifying, and the race.

This modification, which must be ratified during an FIA meeting this week in Nice, is a direct response to a request from the teams. They were concerned that allowing alterations after the third free practice would force each of them to regularly change engines on Saturday noon, which would involve assigning additional personnel to each race.

« As of today, you can change your engine after free practice 3. There is an incentive to do so while respecting the engine limit, » stated Renault’s Director of Engineering Pat Symonds.

« All the teams I’ve spoken to think it’s a bit counterproductive. It means you have to mobilize more people for the race. If an engine blows up on Saturday morning, of course we have enough people for that task. But we don’t have enough guys to systematically change both engines. »

This year, each driver has eight engines for the entire season, and a penalty is applied only when the ninth unit is used.