Major rule change to F1 as jobsworth stewards clamp down on CELEBRATIONS ahead of Australian GP
FORMULA ONE teams have been told they can no longer celebrate drivers’ victories on the pitwall in another barmy ruling by the FIA.
The sport’s governing body, who bungled the outcome of the last race in Saudi Arabia by taking FOUR HOURS to award Fernando Alonso third place, have taken issue with teams climbing on the fencing.
The celebrations have long been part of the end of F1 races but nit-picky stewards are clamping down.
It comes after they turned their attention to Lewis Hamilton’s nose stud and drivers wearing non-regulation underwear.
Ahead of this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix, FIA race director Niels Wittich reminded F1 teams that climbing on the pitwall is not allowed.
In his pre-weekend event safety notes, he said “it is forbidden to climb on the pitwall debris fence at any time”.
The FIA’s International Sporting Code states: “The pit wall signalling platform should be forbidden to all except authorised officials or race team personnel, having a special pass.”
It adds: “It is forbidden for personnel to climb on pit wall debris fences at any time.
“Any action by a team breaching this ban will be reported to the stewards.”
Meanwhile, the FIA have amended the rulebook after Alonso’s Aston Martin team failed to observe a time penalty.
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In Jeddah, the team placed a jack under his car and then waited five seconds before working on his car.
While Alonso was eventually cleared and allowed to keep third place, the rules now say it IS illegal to place a jack under the car during such instances.
Instead, they have to wait for the time penalty to be served before doing anything, including putting a jack in position.