Although there will be a Formula 1 rules revolution with entirely new cars in 2026, things are much simpler for this season as we move into a year of stable regulations. However, there will still be some significant rule changes in 2025, so these are the six most crucial ones to watch out for.
Fastest Lap has been removed
After just reintroducing the bonus point and offer six years ago, Formula 1 has discontinued awarding a point for the fastest lap in 25. The team claimed that this would give an additional element of excitement to races and that it was something that fans had been clamoring for once more.
In fact, it had been a feature of Formula One during his early world championship years, having been awarded between 1950 and 1959. However, the expectations did not always align with reality, and there were moments when it was fascinating to watch who could finish the race and earn the extra point that was up for grabs.
Too often, it turned out to be a damp squib; in fact, a pattern would recur, with the top driver having a nice gap behind them on the track, giving them a buffer of a free pit stop. They would ultimately win because they could put on new tires and finish first.
Daniel Ricardo’s quick slap at the Singapore Grand Prix last year, which cost Championship Contender Lando Norris the point, was the catalyst for the change of heart. Some speculated that Ricardo’s move was a spoiler tactic used by Red Bull sister team RB to help Max for his stappen title bid, which set in motion teams agreeing to drop the extra point and offer for 2025.
New Cooling system introduced
following the problems that drivers suffered in the heat and humidity of Qatar in 2023 the FIA is introducing a new cooling system for this season when conditions are deemed too hot by the FIA which will be a forecast predicted
exceeding 30.5 Centigrade the governing body will declare what’s known as a heat Hazard teams will then have to fit a special system which is in effect a battery powered cooling vest that pumps a coolant around the driver’s body
the cooling equipment is been provided by American company chillout Motorsports which has a good pedGRE in racing having helped deal with keeping temperatures under control in form e batteries as well as solutions to help driver comfort in wet and NASCAR having worked with the
FIA chill out Motorsports has made a smaller version of its Cipher Pro micro cooler so it fits inside an F1 car the drivers will have to wear a special shirt that features about 48 M of piping that wraps around their chest and back cooling liquid will flow around this pipe work to help keep the drivers fresh with a regulation state in only air water or an aqueous solution of sodium chloride potassium chloride or propylene glycol are allowed to be used in such designs
beyond the suits teams will be allowed to open up an aperture on the car to increase airflow to a heat exchanger that’s used as part of the driver cooling system to prevent teams being at competitive disadvantage from fitting this cooling system the minimum weight of the cars will be increased by an extra 5 kg in those races where the device is used to allow for this and the batteries as well as a hole to cool the components of the cooling system another scoop can also be fitted to the upper surface of the nose to help feed air to the driver
Formula 1 Cars getting heavier
Due in part to larger power units, the demand for batteries, and increasingly stringent safety regulations, Formula 1 vehicles have been getting heavier and heavier in recent seasons. This year, the minimum weight will be raised from 798 kg to 800 kg, although this is a rule that was actually created to assist certain drivers.
Since the minimum weight includes both the car and the driver, larger racers have always had a tiny disadvantage to help balance things up.In 2025, the minimum driver weight will be raised to 82 kg, which is why an additional 2 kg has been added to the total car mass. Previously, teams had to add ballast for any drivers under that weight, which was set at 80 kg.
Flexible Wings
Last year, McLaren made waves with their flexible rear wing, which was designed to open up the slot gap as it bent back at high speed, reducing drag and increasing straight line speed. This concept was dubbed mini DRS because it accomplished something akin to the official drag reduction system and helped Oscar Piastri win the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Some changes were made to Formula One’s technical specifications for 2025 to Stamper, even though McLaren agreed to make changes towards the close of the year after consulting with the FIA. If anyone is attempting to do something similar for this season, the slot There is significantly less space to experiment when DRS is open because the gap width is being decreased from a minimum of 10 to 15 mm to 9.4 to 13 mm, while the upper border stays at 85 mm.
Additionally, there are now explicit rules that stipulate that the DRS Bodywork position can only be in one of two states open or closed and that the transition time between these two states must be less than 400 milliseconds. This means that the chain form cannot be flexible. The regulations will be different this year for more than just the rear wings, but this need means that any antics to get the rear wing pieces to bend to aid lower drag are now strictly prohibited.
Beginning with the Spanish Grand Prix, the FIA has tightened restrictions on the amount of flex tolerance that teams are permitted to have in their front wings for the standard low test that it performs in the garage because of worries that some teams might use excessive aero elasticity.
The FIA’s revised regulations, which will take effect in Barcelona this year, call for a one-third increase in stiffness based on the thousand newton force exerted at three distinct positions along the wingspan. It’s unclear who will be most impacted by the modification, but the outboard wing’s vertical deflection is being decreased from 15 mm to 10 mm and the intersection’s from 3 mm to 2 mm.
As the primary competitors, McLaren and Mercedes set the standard for flexi wing designs last year. The FIA conducted additional analysis of the cars using high-resolution video cameras from the Belgian Grand Prix to help monitor the behavior of the front wings after Ferrari and Red Bull lobbied the organization for clarification on whether or not the two teams were exceeding the regulations. However, it ultimately seemed that no one was doing anything that would jeopardize the FIA’s approval.allowed Ferrari to launch its own flexi wing prototype at the end of the season, and Red Bull is now planning to actively pursue its own ideas for 2025.
Limits in Testing
An agreement was reached to place some restrictions on what teams could do for 2025 in response to concerns about an all-out testing of more old cars. This means that, for the first time ever, teams are only permitted to run TPC for a maximum of 20 days, which includes testing F1 cars that are between two and four years old.
In terms of young driver running, the three practice requirements have also changed. Previously, teams had to field a rookie who had participated in fewer than two grand prix races in two practice sessions during the season; for 2025, this is doubling to four outings. Throughout the entire season, race drivers compete for the championship, which is limited to 1,000 kilometers between them over a maximum of four days.
Fixing the Chaos at the Brazilian Grand Prix
The chaos of the Brazilian Grand Prix last year, where qualifying was a washout today and there was a chance of not competing at all for pole position, revealed a significant flaw in the F1 rulebook: how the grid should be determined in the event that qualifying is not possible.
Particularly in light of the current issues brought about by Sprint race weekend formats, this situation was handled up until last season on the basis of stewards’ authority to determine the optimal grid configuration, which was typically determined by the positions from the most recent practice session. However, Brazil last year may have put a wrench in the works because, on a Sprint weekend, it was unclear what the most recent practice session was.
The results of Friday’s F1 practice and Sprint qualifying session were very different. The FIA had long recognized the potential headache of this obvious emission in the rule book, which is why, even before Brazil, a change had been agreed upon for 2025 to address the issue.
According to the new sporting regulation article, starting in 2025, the grid will be determined by the driver’s championship classification if there are extraordinary circumstances that prevent a qualifying session.
Another minor change to the rules has been made in light of the events in Brazil, where Alex Albon’s car was withdrawn from the race just before it started, but his grid position was left open for the 2025 start. vehicles that are withdrawn up to 75 minutes before to the start will not be featured in the final grid, which will be created one hour before the start of a GP. Instead, other vehicles will move forward.
