FIA approves 21-race F1 schedule for 2019

FIA President Jean Todt and Deputy President for Sport Graham Stoker hosted the third World Motor Sport Council of 2018 today in Paris.

The following is a summary of the decisions taken during the meeting.

The 2019 season calendar was approved as follows:

The Council approved changes to the 2019 Sporting Regulations including:

— Changes to the Safety Car regulations to ensure there is a consistent point at which drivers may overtake when the Safety Car returns to the pits. This will now be the same in all three types of restart

— The teams will now be responsible for initial scrutineering of their cars. Before the cars go on track for the first time, teams must declare conformity with all safety related matters

— The official end-of-race signal will now be a chequered light panel, although the chequered flag will still be shown

For 2020, the team personnel curfew – the amount of time for which all team personnel must be away from the track – will increase from eight to nine hours.

Formula 1 Strategy Group and Commission proposals concerning the 2019 Technical Regulations were agreed, including:

— Changes to the mirror regulations and also associated rear wing changes (height) for rear view visibility and safety (Articles 3.6 and 14.3)

— The on-board camera regulations will be modified to improve the TV spectacle (Article 21).

— Rear endplate lights are to be added for safety (Article 14.5)

— Minor modifications to the halo fairing (Article 15.2.6) are to be made for safety reasons during a potential driver extraction

Full details will be made available later.

A report on the security procedures to be put in place for the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix was presented to the Council, following meetings between the FIA, Formula 1 and the local authorities.