The new ‘show-and-tell’ display that Formula 1 teams will be obliged to take part in this season will include public car presentations before practice and after qualifying.
F1 weekend schedules are shifting this year to take away one ‘official’ day of activity at the track, with scrutineering and driver press conferences moved to Friday morning and practice shifting slightly later to accommodate that.
There was originally going to be a requirement for teams to present a reference specification alongside initial scrutineering, which they could then adjust in Friday practice – to trial new parts for future events – before returning to the reference specification before the start of final practice.
Though this has been dropped from the new sporting regulations, it has been replaced in a different form as part of the process outlining a presentation that F1 managing director of motorsport Ross Brawn has referred to as a “show-and-tell”.
There will be a requirement for teams to present their cars to the media before practice begins and again after qualifying.
For what is being officially termed the ‘pre-event automobile display’, teams will provide a summary document to the FIA listing “the name and brief description of all major aerodynamic and bodywork components and assemblies” that have not been run on a previous weekend or official test session.
The FIA and F1 will define the requirements for what teams must disclose at this point.
Each team has to make both cars available outside their designated garage area for a period up to one hour, starting no later than 90 minutes before FP1 begins.
The cars must be “nominally complete and fitted with all major aerodynamic and bodywork components that are intended to be used” when they go on track for the first time in FP1.
Exceptions to taking part in this display will be permitted with prior written permission from the race director.
On Saturday, half an hour after qualifying finishes and for a period of up to one hour, one car from five different teams will be identified by the race director and technical delegate and must be made available for a ‘post-qualifying automobile display’.
A senior technical or sporting representative must be available for at least 10 minutes, at which point they will need to detail “all major aerodynamic and bodywork component updates” made since Friday morning.
Last year, Brawn told media including The Race: “We’re pushing on with initiatives to get greater engagement and a greater insight into what’s happening.
“The teams will explain the changes they’ve made for that weekend and they’ll declare to the FIA the changes they’ve made.
“It will create another nuance and other interest in the sport, because the technical side of the sport is quite fascinating to a lot of fans.”
