29/06/2023
NEWS STORY
In bid to prevent teams running tyre strategies that could see them using Inters in a dry Shootout session, the FIA has tweaked the rules ahead of this weekend's Austrian Sprint.
At the previous Sprint in Baku, Lando Norris and Yuki Tsunoda used their entire allocation of softs during Friday's qualifying session, thereby allowing the McLaren driver to qualify seventh for the Grand Prix and the AlphaTauri driver just one place behind.
As the rules stood at the time, in terms of the Sprint Shootout, drivers had to use one set of mediums in the first and second sessions and a new set of softs in the third.
Article 30.5, previously stated that: "In the period SQ3 of the Sprint Shootout, up to one set of dry-weather tyres may be used, and this must only be a new set of the Soft specification", there is no mention of teams having to save a set of fresh softs, which was the tactic successfully employed by both McLaren and AlphaTauri.
As it happened, Tsunoda was eliminated in the first phase of the Shootout, while Norris failed to make it out of SQ2. However, had he made the cut, McLaren was prepared to send him out on Inters, despite the fact the track was bone dry.
In the first version of his directors notes to the teams today, Niels Wittich writes: "In order to avoid the acknowledged unintended consequence whereby in certain situations at sprint events it becomes attractive to run intermediate tyres on a dry track, the following amendment to Article 30.5.h of the Formula 1 sporting regulations is made.
"Consultation has occurred with the commercial rights holder, stewards and teams. The agreement of the FIA, the commercial rights holder and nine competitors has been obtained in accordance with Article 1.4.
"Accordingly, my decision is that Article 30.5 h) iv) be modified to read as follows - Article 30.5h iv revised wording: In the period SQ3 of the sprint shootout, up to one set of dry-weather tyres may be used, and this must only be a set of the soft specification."
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