FIA introducing “Operational Regulations” and gender-neutral terms to F1 rules · RaceFans

The FIA will introduce a new section to its Formula 1 rules from 2026, called the Operational Regulations.

The governing body of motorsport also confirmed it is changing the language of F1’s rules to make them gender-neutral throughout. The current regulations refer only to male competitors.

F1 teams are already governed by the Sporting Regulations, Technical Regulations and Financial Regulations. The latter, introduced in 2021, is informally known as the budget cap. As with all FIA-sanction series they must also abide by the International Sporting Code.

Today’s meeting of the FIA World Motor Sports Council approved the introduction of a new section called the Operational Regulations. This will “regulate certain F1 team activities that take place away from the race weekend,” said the FIA in a statement. “For this initial version of these regulations, certain elements that have historically been included in the Sporting Regulations have been transferred, such as limitations to aerodynamic testing, power unit testing and mandatory shutdown periods.”

The FIA has introduced restrictions on these areas in recent years in order to reduce teams’ spending and to ensure staff have adequate break periods between competitions. This was seen as necessary as the F1 calendar grew to a record 24 rounds this year.

The FIA replaced masculine terminology with gender-neutral language in its rule books for Formula 2 and Formula 3 last year. For example, one passage which previously stated “the stewards may disqualify him from the race” now reads “the stewards may disqualify the driver from the race.”

The WMSC confirmed it has now made the same change for F1’s rules. All three competitions are open to both genders, but although women have competed in F2 and F3 in recent seasons, none have attempted to qualify for an F1 race since 1992. The last woman to participate in an F1 race weekend was Susie Wolff in 2015. She is now the CEO of all-female junior racing series F1 Academy.

Other changes were approved for next year’s rules including ‘heat hazard’ rules which will require drivers to wear cooling equipment in extreme weather conditions. The Financial Regulations for 2025 and 2026 have been updated to exclude certain activities from the budget cap for sustainability reasons.

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