FIA World Motor Sport Council meeting: 2019 Formula 1 season to commence on March 17

Paris, 13 October 2018: With no new additions, the 2018 Formula One season will again comprise 21 races, beginning with the Australian GP in Melbourne on the weekend of March 17 as per the calendar announced by the sport’s World governing body FIA following the meeting of the World Motor Sport Council here on Friday, hosted by FIA President Jean Todt and Deputy President for Sport Graham Stoker.

Besides approving the calendar for Formula 1 and the World Rally Championship, the Council also approved MRF Challenge as one of the four international series, the others being Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East, Asian Le Mans Series and the W Series.

The 2019 season calendar was approved as follows:

17 March: Australia, Melbourne

31 March: Bahrain, Sakhir

14 April: China, Shanghai

28 April: Azerbaijan, Baku

12 May: Spain, Barcelona

26 May: Monaco, Monaco

9 June: Canada, Montreal

23 June: France, Le Castellet

30 June: Austria, Spielberg

14 July: Great Britain, Silverstone

28 July: Germany, Hockenheim

4 August: Hungary, Budapest

1 September: Belgium, Spa

8 September: Italy, Monza

22 September: Singapore, Singapore

29 September: Russia, Sochi

13 October: Japan, Suzuka

27 October: Mexico, Mexico City

3 November: USA, Austin*

17 November: Brazil, São Paulo

1 December: Abu Dhabi, Yas Marina

* Subject to ASN approval

THE DECISIONS IN BRIEF

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

RELIEF FOR TEAM PERSONNEL

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 end-plate 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.

– Source: fia.com