World Motor Sport Council meets at Geneva

Geneva, 23 Jan 2014: An extraordinary meeting of the FIA World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) took place today (23 January) in Geneva, Switzerland. The following decisions were taken according to an FIA release:

FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

The FIA President reaffirmed to members of the WMSC the FIA’s intention to assure a healthy, affordable and spectacular FIA Formula One World Championship for the long-term future. At a meeting of the F1 Strategy Group yesterday, chaired by the FIA President, and attended by Bernie Ecclestone and the teams, it was unanimously agreed that cost reduction and cost control regulations will be presented to the WMSC in June 2014 for introduction in January 2015.

Amendments to the 2014 Sporting Regulations were also approved, but are subject to ratification by the F1 Commission and teams. These include:

• The Stewards may now impose a five second time penalty which can be taken before work is carried out on the car in a pit stop
• Team personnel must also wear helmets during qualifying, as well as the race
• Drivers may not stop on the slowing down lap to save fuel for sampling and subsequent analysis; this will not be considered justifiable reason for stopping
• For 2014 only, each team will be allowed six curfew ‘jokers’, previously there were two permitted. This is to allow more flexibility for working on the new engines and cars

Amendments to the 2014 Technical Regulations, subject to agreement of the F1 Commission and teams:

• The weight of the car, without fuel, must not be less than 691kg at all times during the Event. The weight limit has increased by 1kg to take into account the difference in weight between the tyres in 2013 and 2014

Amendments to the 2015 Sporting Regulations, subject to agreement of the F1 Commission:

• To be considered as a constructor, teams will now not need to design and manufacture suspension and brake ducts

Amendments to the 2015 Technical Regulations, subject to agreement of the F1 Commission:

• The car minimum weight has been increased by 10kg, to 701kg, for 2015
• All tyre heating devices will be prohibited in 2015
• For safety reasons, the front part of the chassis will not be able to climb too steeply rearward of the front of the chassis.

FUNDING REVIEW COMMISSION

With the framework for the implementation of the 2013 Concorde Agreement relating to Formula One having come into force – which provides the FIA with significantly improved financial means to pursue its regulatory missions – the WMSC has approved the creation of a task force charged with identifying key objectives and missions for the FIA and its membership. The newly-created Funding Review Commission will be divided into sub-commissions for both sport and mobility, chaired by Deputy Presidents Graham Stoker and Brian Gibbons respectively.

Within sport, and under the responsibility of the FIA President, the intention is to develop programmes to reinforce the growth of the FIA and its Championships, and motor sport in general. In addition, the Funding Review Commission and the sport sub-commission will be responsible for identifying areas in which the FIA can further enhance the work of the ASNs.

Proposals will be subject to approval by the FIA Senate. Nick Craw, President of the FIA Senate, will be permanently invited to every meeting session.

Graham Stoker, FIA Deputy President for Sport, was nominated as Chairman of the Commission and will be supported by the following associates representing the global FIA membership:

Jose Abed (Americas)

Nasser Khalifa Al Attiyah (Middle East)

Morrie Chandler (Pacific region)

Heping Wan (Asia region)

Surinder Thatthi (Africa)

Nicolas Deschaux (West Europe)

Zrinko Gregurek (East Europe)

Garry Connelly (FIA Institute)

OFFICIAL REPRESENTATIVE TO THE PRESIDENT FOR THE CO-ORDINATION OF ZONES AND THE REGIONS

With the goal of increasing co-ordination between ASNs across the zones and regions, an official representative has been appointed; Nicolas Deschaux (FRA). The plan is to perform an audit on the level of activity of each of the zones and regions recognised by the FIA, and at the regional level in general; and to harmonise the status of the zones and regions (procedures for appointing the co-ordinators, length of mandate, etc.) and clarification of the zones’ relations with the FIA and its specialised commissions.

HISTORIC MOTOR SPORT

The WMSC approved the Historic Motor Sport Commission’s nominations for the presidencies of the sub-commissions and working group as follows:

Vehicle Compliance Sub‐Commission                                  Jan Mienkinsky (AUT)

Historic Rally Sub‐Commission                                            Rod Parkin (GBR)

Historic Technical Working Group                                        Simon Hadfield (GBR)

Historic Hill Climb Sub‐Commission                                     Stan Minarik (CZE)

Historic Regulations and Appendix K Sub‐Commission          Alessandro Degan (ITA)

Historic Circuit Sub‐Commission                                          TBA

GT

At its December 2013 meeting, the WMSC agreed that an FIA label may be granted to each interested GT International Series upon payment of a specific license fee and subject to compliance with a certain number of criteria to be defined by the FIA.

Today, the members of the WMSC approved guidelines that will assist in the standardisation of regulations, in particular relating to Balance of Performance and the list of FIA drivers’ categorisation, both of which will be provided by the FIA to each Promoter of the Series concerned. One-year contracts will be granted to International GT Series’ sanctioned by the FIA and only GT category cars homologated by the FIA will be permitted to compete in these Series. Marketing, communication and sporting support will be provided to each Promoter.

SECRETARY GENERAL FOR SPORT

FIA President Jean Todt led a motion of thanks and sincere appreciation to Pierre de Coninck, Secretary General for Sport for the past 32 years, who has requested to step down from his duties as of 31 January. Pierre de Coninck will continue to bring his invaluable expertise to the development of the FIA as Adviser to the President.

The members of the WMSC approved the recruitment of Jean-Louis Valentin, as proposed by the FIA President and FIA Deputy President for Sport, Graham Stoker, starting from 1 February 2014.

ends