The World Motor Sport Council met in Paris on 17 March 2009. The following decisions were taken:
FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
A number of measures were agreed to help reduce costs and increase interest in the
FIA Formula One World Championship.
2009 Formula One Regulations
Points
The WMSC accepted the proposal from
Formula One Management to award the drivers' championship to the driver who has won the most races during the season. If two or more drivers finish the season with the same number of wins, the title will be awarded to the driver with the most points, the allocation of points being based on the current 10, 8, 6 etc. system.
The rest of the standings, from second to last place, will be decided by the current points system. There is no provision to award medals for first, second or third place. The Constructors' Championship is unaffected.
The WMSC rejected the alternative proposal from the
Formula One Teams' Association to change the points awarded to drivers finishing in first, second and third place to 12, 9 and 7 points respectively.
Testing
Teams will be allowed to carry out three one day young driver training tests between the end of the last event of the Championship and 31 December of the same year. Drivers are eligible only if they have not competed in more than two F1 World Championship Events in the preceding 24 months or tested a
Formula One car on more than four days in the same 24 month period.
Teams can also conduct eight one day aerodynamic tests carried out on
FIA approved straight line or constant radius sites between 1 January 2009 and the end of the last Event of the 2009 Championship.
Media
The
FIA will publish the weights of all cars after qualifying at each Event.
For greater clarity for spectators and media, wet tyres have been renamed “intermediate” and extreme-weather tyres renamed “wet”.
On the first day of practice all drivers must be available for autograph signing in their designated team space in the pit lane.
All drivers eliminated in qualifying must make themselves available for media interviews immediately after the end of each session.
Any driver retiring before the end of the race must make himself available for media interviews after his return to the paddock.
