The FIA has made adjustments to the battle guidelines so that the stewards no longer have to stick so closely to the text.
Ahead of the start of the new 2026 Formula 1 season, the FIA has updated its racing guidelines and announced that it will be a little more generous in its assessments and issue fewer penalties. This includes an adjustment to the penalty points, which will also be issued for fewer offenses.
The assessment of racing was a major topic of controversy last year. Drivers repeatedly criticized the lack of consistency in particular, as well as the general regulations, which led to strange driving maneuvers, with drivers behaving in such a way that they would be strictly within the rules.
This is because the stewards were often accused of treating the racing guidelines as strict law rather than simply using them as a basis for informed decisions.
This led to a meeting between teams, drivers, and the FIA at the penultimate race in Qatar, the outcome of which can now be seen in the newly revised guidelines.
One of the biggest changes concerns wheel locking, which no longer automatically implies that a driver has lost control, as this may actually be due to the laws of physics or simply an attempt to avoid another car.
In case of doubt, the stewards will exercise leniency in this circumstance. In addition, according to the FIA, they will recognize that in an overtaking maneuver, the other car cannot simply disappear once a vehicle has gained the right to the corner. In general, the stewards are to be given “more flexibility” in applying the standards.
This also includes penalty points, for which a change is being introduced: these will now only be awarded for “dangerous, reckless, or obviously deliberate actions that lead to a collision” or for “other unacceptable or unsportsmanlike behavior.”
However, the rule still applies that if a driver accumulates twelve penalty points within a year, they will be suspended for one race – as was the case with Haas driver Kevin Magnussen in Baku in 2024.
Elsewhere, there are now stricter guidelines for defending drivers who leave the track. The guidelines now state: “If a car leaves the track [or cuts a chicane] while defending a position and returns to the track at the same position, the stewards will generally consider that a lasting advantage has been gained.”
“Therefore, the position should generally be given back. It is at the sole discretion of the stewards to determine whether the driver of a car is defending a position.”
