Rule changes for 2003 season announced.

As a result of the meeting of the Formula One Commission changes for the 2003 rule book were announced by FIA President Max Mosley and FOM President Bernie Ecclestone at a press conference at London Heathrow Hilton.

The changes that were announced covered qualifying, a new points system that covers the top eight finishers, team orders will no longer be acceptable, the Belgian GP has been removed from the 2003 Calendar, an option for additional Friday testing, and restrictions on the number of tyre compounds.

The new qualifying format will see each driver complete just one flying lap in Friday qualifying based on championship order and then on Saturday the procedure is repeated in reverse order with the aggregate time deciding the starting position.

As for team orders Max Mosley declared that team orders that affect the outcome of the race will no longer permitted. It was not announced how such a ruling will be policed and what penalties may be handed out

The new points system will now award ten points to the winner, eight points for second, six points for third, five points for fourth, four points for fifth, three points for sixth, two points for seventh and a single championship point for eighth position.

As for the Belgian Grand Prix it came down to the fact that the teams could not agree to run without tobacco advertising for next year’s race, so the FIA has removed the race from the calendar making the championship just 16 rounds.

Both Michelin and Bridgestone will be able to supply their contracted teams with two varying tyre compounds to each team. This compares to 2002 where they could only supply a total of two compounds for all of their contracted teams. This allows for each team having a tyre that is suited to their particular chassis.

Changes to testing will allow teams who test for ten or less days during the Grand Prix season will be awarded two additional hours of testing on the Friday of each Grand Prix. The rule is provisional and is dependant on three teams agreeing to test for less than ten days during the 2003 season.

"It is a fine line between not doing anything and not doing too much," Mosley declared at the Heathrow press conference. "On balance, it seems what we are doing is likely to produce a significant change."

Below is a summary of the rule changes:

Qualifying:

There will be two qualifying sessions - Friday and Saturday, both 13.00 - 14.00
Qualifying to be one (only) flying lap for each car, cars to run one at a time
Running order on Friday to follow Championship (previous year at first race), with Championship leader going out first, 2nd in Championship running second, and so on

Running order on Saturday will be determined by the Friday times (which do not count for the grid), so that the fastest on Friday runs last on Saturday, the second fastest second last, and so on.

Practice schedule:

This will remain Friday: 11.00 to 12.00 and Saturday: 09.00 to 09.45 and 10.15 to 11.00 (with qualifying from 13.00 to 14.00 both days, as above).

Testing:

Provided that by 15 December, at least three teams undertake to the FIA not to run more than 10 car-days of private testing between 1 March and 1 November, the teams which have given this undertaking will be able to test at each Event from 09.00 to 11.00 on Friday and may use their spare car and their test driver during this period.

World Championship points:

From 2003 points will be awarded down to 8th place on the scale 10:8:6:5:4:3:2:1 (previously to 6th place on the scale 10:6:4:3:2:1).

Team orders:

Team orders which interfere with the race result are prohibited.

The 2003 Belgian Grand Prix:

In the absence of unanimous agreement by the teams to run at the 2003 Belgian Grand Prix without tobacco advertising, this event has been removed from the World Championship calendar.

Tyres:

Each team will be allowed to use two different dry tyres at each Event, (previously each tyre company could supply only the same two dry tyres to each of its teams). Teams will continue to be limited to 10 sets of dry tyres per Event. Only one type of wet tyre to be used per Event.