There may be a rule overhaul coming for next year, but that hasn’t stopped the FIA, F1 and the World Motorsport Council from making some impactful regulation changes ahead of the 2025 season. Here are 15 that you should be aware of before F1 gets back on track:

No more fastest lap bonus point

This change was actually voted in before the conclusion of last season but it comes into play from the Australian Grand Prix. A driver who achieves the fastest lap of a grand prix will no longer receive an extra point, regardless of where they finish.

This bonus point had been in place from 1950 to 1959 before being abandoned and then brought back from 2019. The decision to remove it again appears to have resulted from a controversy at last year’s Singapore Grand Prix where Daniel Ricciardo, driving his final race in Formula 1 for VCARB, pitted for softs right at the end to claim the fastest lap away from Lando Norris who held it at the time.

Ricciardo said he had done so “with Red Bull in mind” given the ongoing title battle between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, with a single point potentially being pivotal by the end of the year. This prompted a comment from McLaren CEO Zak Brown, who branded it “a nice A/B-team sporting thing that I didn’t think was allowed”.

While the drivers’ title didn’t come down to this one point difference in 2024, many of the drivers have argued that the rule had never had the intended effect of giving additional incentive at a race’s late stages due to the way it was usually achieved.

“Right now, that point goes to the one that has a free pitstop one lap to the end of the race,” Carlos Sainz told Autosport. “So, it’s not showing who is the fastest guy in the race, and he deserves one point for being the fastest guy. 

“Most of the time, it’s a point that goes to the guy that by chance or by luck or by race situation has a free pitstop at some point of the race.”

Whether the total bonus 24 points over a season will be missed in a tight championship battle remains to be seen…

Gearbox part restrictions lifted

The World Motorsport Council (WMSC) has decided to remove the limitations on the number of gearbox components a driver could use over the season, and with this also the potential penalties for exceeding this limitation.

Article 29  has been completely removed from the Sporting Regulations, but previously outlined the usage of ‘Restricted Number Components’ or RNCs – components that drivers could only use a certain number of over the championship. RNCs included the Gearbox case and Cassette and the Gearbox driveline, gear change components and auxiliary components – each holding a 5-place grid drop penalty for each time a driver exceeded their allowance.

The WMSC decided that this regulation was made “obsolete” by the current reliability of these components, and typically a driver only really had to take a new gearbox if they had suffered a heavy crash to the rear of the car.

It’s important to note that the restrictions on power unit components are still in place.

New ‘Heat Hazard’ outlines and driver cooling system

For 2025, the FIA have outlined new ‘Heat Hazard’ regulations which will see drivers able to use new cooling systems when the temperature for a session is forecast to exceed 31°C.

Where this is the case, the race director can now declare a ‘Heat Hazard’ 24 hours before a session, which has a few implications:

• All components of the driver cooling systems must be fitted to the cars, but the drivers can elect not to wear items of their personal cooling system equipment.
• The ‘Heat Hazard Mass Increase’ will apply (Article 4.7 of the Technical Regulations).

The ‘Heat Hazard Mass Increase’ sees an additional 5kg applied to the minimum car weight for races or sprints where a hazard is declared, and 2kg for any practice or qualifying sessions. This is to account for the increased weight the driver cooling system adds to the car/driver.

These cooling systems have been in the works since early 2024, following the incredibly tough conditions the drivers experienced at the 2023 Qatar Grand Prix. While immediate changes were made for 2024 to include a new driver cooling inlet scoop that the teams could fit where needed, this year the new ‘heat hazard’ regulations will mandate that action is taken to protect the drivers from these conditions.

It is understood to include a new form of Nomex fireproof that pipes cooling fluid around it, and therefore the driver’s body, produced by ‘Chillout Motorsports’. The company already provides cooling technologies to other motorsport categories including WEC and NASCAR, but this Formula 1 project required the miniaturisation of its system for use in a grand prix cockpit. A box will be fitted to the cockpit, but where in the car will differ per team, which houses the cooling apparatus and is powered by an external battery pack.

So far the feedback on this system from the drivers has been very positive, with Charles Leclerc reportedly saying “he wishes he could run this system in every race” according to Chillout Motorsports founder, Charles Kline.

Wing flexibility test changes

The controversy around flexibility in bodywork, but especially front wings, is predicted to continue at least for the first part of the season before the FIA introduce more stringent load tests for the front wings from round 9.

From May 28th, the Wednesday before the Spanish Grand Prix, the vertical deflection of both sides of the front wing when load is applied must not exceed 10mm and when applied to just one side, it must be no more than 15mm.

For the front wing flap, any part of the trailing edge of any front wing flap may deflect no more than 3mm, when measured along the loading axis, when a 60N point load is applied.

From the start of the season however, new restrictions on rear wing movement and beam wing flexibility will come into place that see a strict minimum and maximum opening gap for when DRS is deployed vs. not in an effort to prevent ‘mini-DRS’ systems like were allegedly seen from McLaren last year.

Mandatory two stop race in Monaco

In an effort to improve the “sporting spectacle” of the modern Monaco Grand Prix, the FIA will introduce a mandatory minimum-two stop strategy for teams. This will apply in the wet or the dry, and has been introduced in response to the processional race seen last year.

Due to the red flag on the opening lap, the drivers had a chance to change their tyres for free for the restart and as such we saw just seven pitstops over the race distance with most drivers opting to manage their one set until the end instead.

This new rule is being applied in a modification to article 30.5 (m) of the Sporting Regulations to state that “for the race in Monaco, each driver must use at least three (3) sets of tyres of any specification” to include two different specifications of tyre in dry races.

This regulation doesn’t lay out that these tyre changes must take place in a pitstop, and it also doesn’t mandate stint lengths, potentially leaving it open to being impacted by red flag free tyre changes or to teams opting to stop on laps 1 and 2, and then not again later in the race.

While it is standard practice for a driver who doesn’t make their mandatory one tyre change during a grand prix to be disqualified, this Monaco specific regulation adaptation will see an additional 30-second penalty added to a driver’s elapsed race time if they fail to make both mandatory changes.

New limitations on Testing Previous Cars

For this year, a new limitation has been applied to how much testing of previous cars (TPC) current drivers can do. Teams can conduct up to 20 of these days a year using cars designed and constructed for any of the three years prior to the year before the current championship (for 2025: 2023-2021 cars are compliant). However this year current drivers are limited to 1000km over a maximum of four days. Additionally, there are new limits on which circuits can be used to prevent TPC test days from being conducted on circuits on the championship calendar in the 60 days before they host a race, among other conditions.

This change comes following questions being asked over TPC last season, when it became apparent that Max Verstappen had tested Red Bull’s 2022 car, the RB18, at Imola to gauge a benchmark to which he could compare the current car while the team were struggling with the RB20’s ride height. Red Bull’s chief engineer, Paul Monaghan, spoke to this at the time saying they were aiming to give Max “a reference from a previous car”.

Fred Vasseur, team principal at Ferrari, was arguably the main proponent of a limit being applied to TPC. Given the timing of Verstappen’s test as just before the 2024 Spanish Grand Prix and being conducted in response to issues Red Bull were facing with their car at the time, he felt that TPC being conducted with current drivers is “clearly development”.

TPC commonly has a role in preparing young drivers and providing them with valuable mileage, which Vasseur said was “another approach”. This has been reflected in this regulation change, leaving the majority of TPC time over a season to non-championship drivers.

Abandoned spray reduction project reflects in TCC regulations

The FIA have modified the regulations around opportunities for Testing of Current Cars (TCC) to state that one such opportunity specifically for this year, the post-season test, can only be conducted with one car which has to be given to a young driver. This is in contrast to the previous regulations which saw teams bring two cars, one for a young driver and one for a Super Licence holder to test tyre specifications for the following season.

This change comes in conjunction with others to testing for 2026’s tyre specifications versus testing focused on current tyre development, as we come to the end of this regulation cycle and Pirelli’s focus begins to shift to the new era.

As a result, there will be just 10 allowed test days this year for improving current tyre design as opposed to the usual 40.

But in addition, the FIA have removed the clause of article 10.8 in the Sporting Regulations which previously outlined an additional four test days for “the sole purpose of participating in an FIA project” to “facilitate the research into spray reduction techniques in wet weather”.

The idea was originally tested at Silverstone in 2023 but further examined with a more dramatic design at Fiorano with Ferrari cars last year, and the conclusion was made that any improvements were too marginal to justify the project’s continuation.

The FIA’s head of single seaters, Nikolas Tombazis, said in May 2024 that they were now looking “to find other ways to protect races from being cancelled” in the event of bad weather. 

Testing expanded to help 2026 tyre development

Where 2025 tyre testing has been reduced, 2026 tyre testing has been expanded with a change to the mule car testing regulations and an additional post-season test.

For this year, the allowed mule car test days have been quadrupled from the previously allowed 10 to now be 40. Testing of Mule Cars (TMC) is that which is done with cars from the four years preceding the previous championship year (for 2025: 2023-2020) that have been “suitably modified” with the sole purpose of allowing Pirelli a means of testing their future products, or the FIA a means of testing future systems/components.

In developing the 2026 tyre range and constructions, Pirelli have already been collaborating with the teams to use modified 2023 cars to simulate the expected downforce levels and performance of the new 2026 cars, in the absence of the real thing. With this expanded testing allowance, they can conduct much more work prior to the new regulations.

In addition, the regulations have been altered to allow a further one day post-season test with the sole purpose of testing tyres for 2026 using a mule car.

Start procedure clarification

Following confusion from some drivers around the aborted start vs. extra formation lap procedures at last year’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix, the FIA have clarified the wording around these procedures. Specifically, the colour of the lights that will appear on the gantry has been specified as ‘orange’ rather than just as ‘abort lights’, that will then be followed two seconds later by green lights in the event of an extra formation lap.

No more limping to the pits with “significant and obvious damage”

Under article 26 of the Sporting Regulations entitled ‘General Safety’ the FIA have expanded the wording around drivers looking to make it back to the pits after suffering damage on track.

Previously, the wording was limited to; “If a driver has serious mechanical difficulties, he must leave the track as soon as it is safe to do so”, however it has now been extended to describe such cases in more detail.

If a driver’s car suffers “significant and obvious damage to a structural component” which results in their car presenting an “immediate risk of endangering the driver or others”, or if a driver’s car has “a significant failure or fault which means it cannot reasonably return to the pits” without impeding a competitor then the race director can now ask the driver to park up as soon as possible.

Last year’s Canadian Grand Prix saw Sergio Perez drive over half a lap to return to the pits with his rear wing hanging off in order to prevent triggering a safety car period while his teammate, Max Verstappen, was leading. The stewards determined that he had breached this very article, article 26.10, and as such was handed a 3-place grid drop penalty while Red Bull were fined €25,000. 

The increased clarification around this regulation is aimed at preventing cases such as this and improving safety.

Tougher rules on unsafe releases

The FIA have added some further wording to article 34.14 a) of the Sporting Regulations which defines how a car should not be released from the garage – namely now not in a way that is “likely to cause damage to another car”. This is in addition to the pre-existing conditions of not in a way that could endanger pit lane personnel or another driver. These new ten words could result in more cases of drivers/teams being punished for sending cars out of their garages or pit boxes in a way that could put others/another car at risk.

Grid order if no qualifying can take place

Due to severe weather conditions at last year’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix, Saturday’s qualifying session was cancelled and before it was rescheduled and took place on the Sunday morning, there was some confusion around what would set the grid order if no qualifying could take place.

While for 2024 this would have meant the grid taking the order of the finishing results from the most recent practice session, according to article 39.4 b), for this year, if no qualifying session can take place then the grid will be defined by the Drivers’ Championship classification order.

In the exceptional circumstances where this isn’t possible, i.e. at the first race of the season, then the order will be determined by the stewards.

More practice opportunities for rookies

The number of rookie free practice sessions have been expanded for this year from one per car to two per car, or four total per team. Drivers qualify for this practice running provided they haven’t participated in more than two F1 races in their career and they must hold either a Super Licence or Free Practice Licence.

For Mercedes, Racing Bulls, Kick Sauber and Alpine, half of their required running will be completed by their current full-time drivers as they have either never participated in a grand prix, or in Jack Doohan’s case, have participated in just one.

While there are more full-season rookies on the grid, Liam Lawson won’t be eligible to fulfil some of Red Bull’s requirements as he has 11 grand prix starts and Oliver Bearman also cannot complete Haas’ running as he has 3 starts.

More stewards at some events

For 2025 the FIA have added the scope for an additional steward with now a “minimum of three and a maximum of four” at each event, one of whom will be made chairman. These, plus the Race Director and a Permanent Starter, will be nominated by the FIA from a pool of individuals with an FIA Super Licence.

Higher minimum weight for 2025

The minimum weight restriction for car plus driver has increased by two kilograms for this year, from 798kg to 800kg, with the additional two kilos applying to the drivers’ minimum weight specifically (rising from 80kg to 82kg). This is the first increase in the drivers’ weight that’s been seen since the allowance was introduced five years ago.