New F1 rule to reduce driver penalties

Jan.25 - F1 has tweaked the rules so that drivers are penalised less often in 2017.

This week, the final sporting regulations for the new season were published.

Of particular note was article 38.1, following widespread criticism that too many penalties are being given to drivers for on-track incidents.

Now, the rules state that even if Charlie Whiting reports an incident, the stewards can "decide whether or not to proceed with an investigation".

And another tweak should restrict whether a driver can be penalised for borderline racing incidents.

"Unless it is clear to the stewards that a driver was wholly or predominantly to blame for an incident, no penalty will be imposed," the regulations now state.

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Leopold

Leopold Pleijsier founded F1-Fansite.com in 2001 and has followed Formula 1 since the early 1980s. He writes about daily F1 news, race weekends, drivers and the sport’s history.

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