Formula 1's strangest rule changes

Particularly in recent years, some very strange ideas have been suggested and, in some cases, introduced in Formula 1.

In the wake of the decision to award double points for the 2014 season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, which has met with almost universal derision amongst fans, AUTOSPORT looks back at 15 rule changes that raised eyebrows.

Some were adopted and later dropped, some never got off the drawing board and some were more based upon unexpected interpretations of current rules.

The aim is not to be exhaustive, but to give an overview of some of the strange ideas that have cropped up in grand prix racing, particularly in recent years.

Aggregate qualifying

Before F1 reached its current state of equilibrium, with the very effective Q1/Q2/Q3 format, a number of different formats were tried.

In 2005, the dreaded aggregate qualifying system was introduced. The rationale was that this move, in which drivers' best laps from two separate qualifying sessions are added together to create their final time, would make both sessions competitive.

The reality was that it proved desperately unpopular with fans and drivers alike. It was used for the first five races of 2005 before being abandoned by unanimous agreement during the Monaco GP weekend.

CDG Wing

The FIA wanted to find ways to improve overtaking, after the effect of the turbulence generated off the back of a leading car had been isolated as the main cause for the lack of passing.

Nick Wirth, former team boss of Simtek and an ex-Benetton technical director, conducted a study in CFD that proposed the centreline downwash-generating (CDG) wing.

The idea was to create a far more stable wake to allow the chasing car to run more closely, mitigating the 20-30 per cent downforce loss caused by following another car.

As explained in this feature on the origins of the 2009-2013 regulations, it was not a popular idea and was later shelved.

Control engine

On the Friday of the 2008 Chinese Grand Prix, the FIA issued a press release announcing an imminent tender process for a control F1 engine to be used in 2010.

The idea was that this would lead to a single engine supplier powering the whole grid, with the engine manufacturer Cosworth best-placed to fulfil such a tender.

It was later clarified that other companies would be allowed to build the engines, provided they were to the designs produced by the company winning the tender.

The tender process ended in November '08, and the FIA offered Cosworth the chance to put together a cheap engine package.

The threat of control engines eventually led to F1 manufacturers agreeing low-cost engine supply deals for customer teams, an idea which was pushed through and led to the control engine proposal being dropped.

Driver aids deemed illegal

At the 1993 Canadian Grand Prix, F1 technical delegates sent a report to the stewards declaring 24 of the 26 cars on the grid illegal.

This move was a precursor to an outright ban of driver aids that was put in place for the following season. All cars running active suspension and/or traction control were deemed illegal.

Williams, McLaren, Benetton, Ferrari, Tyrrell, Lotus and Minardi were all running active suspension, while those teams plus Footwork, Jordan, Larrousse, Ligier and Sauber were running traction control.

Active suspension was considered illegal because the hydraulic rams influence aerodynamics, while traction control ensured that the propulsion of the car was not under the full control of drivers.

This meant that there was the brief possibility that only the very slow Scuderia Italia Lola-Ferraris of Michele Alboreto and Luca Badoer would be eligible to race!

This move was part of a wider political battle to ban driver aids, and the cars did run in hi-tech spec for the rest of the year. But it did reach the FIA Motor Sport World Council level and pave the way for the actual ban that was to come in 1994.

Driver-swapping

The FIA put together a dramatic nine-point plan for ways to overhaul F1 during the 2002 season.

The nine points included proposals for qualifying formats, a control tyre, testing restrictions, aerodynamic freezes, long-life engines and gearbox and standard parts, some of which did eventually made it to F1.

But the most emotive of the proposals was one for driver-swapping. The idea was simple. All drivers would no longer have team contracts, with the FIA picking those who would participate during a season.

These drivers would then rotate from team to team and, once every driver had raced for every team in a season, the drivers would get to choose their machinery based on world championship order.

As AUTOSPORT said at the time, "this is comfortably the most outrageous of the FIA proposals."

It did not go any further.

Formula 2 regulations

Generically, people refer to the F1 world championship to neatly identify the title fought for from 1950 to the present day. But it is only shorthand.

Following the withdrawal of Alfa Romeo from racing at the end of '51 and with a shortage of genuine F1 machinery available, the decision was made to run the world championship for F2 cars.

This means both of Alberto Ascari's world championships came behind the wheel of the F2-spec Ferrari 500 before F1's return for 1954.

Indianapolis 500

When the world championship was put together in 1950, the decision was made for it to include races of so-called grande epreuve status.

The first season included the British, Swiss, French, Belgian and Italian Grands Prix (the Czechoslovakian GP was also planned, but dropped so the season would finish in Italy). But there was one more race.

With all of the races taking place in Europe, to justify the world tag, the Indianapolis 500 became a points race. It held this status from 1950-1960.

In total, 33 drivers scored world championship points in the Indy 500. Not one of them scored points in any other race.

Medals system

Bernie Ecclestone championed a seismic change to F1's point-scoring system for the 2009 season, with the drivers' championship decided by a medals system.

This move, which was incorporated into the rules for 2009 before later being dropped, would have awarded the top three in each grand prix Olympic Games-style gold, silver and bronze medals.

The champion would be whichever driver claimed the most gold medals, with countback to silver and bronze brought into play should the number of wins be equal. A regular points system would continue to run in the background to decide the constructors' championship.

The FIA published an analysis of how this would have changed the destiny of the world championship but the measure did not have widespread support.

Overtaking lanes

Another of Bernie Ecclestone's suggestions, the idea of overtaking lanes was raised before the 2010 season.

It would have required substantial changes to the circuits, meaning it was a non-starter, but it certainly created some headlines.

The idea was that a shorter loop would allow drivers to cut out part of the track and emerge ahead of a car they were behind. Access to the shortcut would be limited to a certain number of instances.

"Imagine a shortcut which a driver can use five times every race," said Ecclestone. "It would stop people getting stuck behind others and be good for TV."

Thankfully, this innovative idea did not go any further.

Sprinklers

In 2011, Bernie Ecclestone floated the idea of water sprinklers soaking the track during grands prix.

While this proposal never got close to being implemented, it became a hot topic for discussion. The idea was to equip the circuit with sprinklers and then randomly soak the track to simulate the unpredictability of bad weather.

"I thought maybe at the beginning it was a little bit crazy," said Ecclestone at the time. "But it is surprising how much support it is getting because, provided we do it so that nobody knows when it is going to happen, like when it rains, it will make a lot of entertainment."

Fortunately, this very showbiz idea gained as little traction as an F1 tyre on a sodden track.

Success ballast

As part of the FIA's nine-point plan of 2002 (mentioned above), the idea of success ballast was suggested.

This would lead to 1kg of ballast being added to a car per point scored. As this was based on the pre-2003 points system, it would mean a victory was worth an extra 10kg, with 6kg for second place, 4kg for third, 3kg for fourth, 2kg for fifth and 1kg for sixth.

Unlike many success ballast regulations in motorsport, whereby cars pick up weight based on recent results, the extra weight would not be lost. Win the season-opener and you gain 10kg you won't lose for the rest of the year.

Only selected parts of the nine-point plan were adopted and success ballast died a death.

Ten-hour races

In 1931, the French, Belgian and Italian Grands Prix were run to a 10-hour minimum race length regulation, with the first three races deciding the 'International Grand Prix' title.

The points system (which was based on accruing as few as possible) recognised not only overall results, but also completing certain proportions of the race distance.

All three races were won by two-driver combinations, but epic grand prix distances were soon consigned to history.

Team orders ban

Adopted in late 2002 as a direct consequence of the fan backlash after Rubens Barrichello let Ferrari team-mate Michael Schumacher past to win the Austrian Grand Prix, this was a millstone around F1's neck until dropped after the 2010 season.

The rule meant teams could no longer influence the result by ordering one driver past another or deliberately hindering one. Firstly, this outlawed a practice that had been part of grand prix racing throughout history. Secondly, and more importantly, it led to a raft of cases where team orders were applied and later denied, which made the sport look idiotic.

At the 2010 German GP, Felipe Massa was ordered to let Ferrari team-mate Fernando Alonso through to win the race. Both had to deny it after the race and the fallout from this undermined the ban, which had triggered all manner of slow pit-stops and claims of mysterious car problems, not to mention the complexity of team orders late in the season when the world championship was at stake.

For 2011, this rule was gone and F1 stopped insulting the watching world's intelligence.

Two-part points systems

Dropped scores were a fact of life in world championship scoring from 1950 until they were dropped for the '91 season, but there were several years when the season was split into two halves.

Drivers counted a set number of scores from one half of the season, and from the second, to make up their total score.

This was first introduced in 1967, when drivers counted their best five finishes from the first six races, and best four from the last five.

This format continued until the end of '80, with the number of counting points and the division of the season shifting according to the number of races.

Two-tier F1

As the antagonism between then-FIA president Max Mosley and the F1 teams climbed towards the inevitable breakaway showdown in mid-2009, the idea of a two-tier F1 was put into the regulations.

Mosley's proposed budget cap, first set at £30 million and later at £40 million, was tweaked to allow the big teams to continue unrestricted, but for those who did agree to the cap to be given rules breaks.

This would allow unlimited track testing and no limits on windtunnel use, no rev limit and adjustable front and rear wings.

This proposal was eventually dropped as part of the FIA vs FOTA war.