41. How does the FIA inspect the cars? How are prohibited electronic driving aids detected?
At each Formula One circuit, the FIA has set up an electronics laboratory with sophisticated electronic equipment and technical experts who are authorized to check any car for prohibited electronic driving aids at any time before the start of the official race (including cars standing by on the track before the start of the race). More than half a million lines of program source code, so it is impossible to carry out an in-depth and detailed inspection of its programs, especially for cars waiting on the track for the start of the race. The checking of on-board electronics is therefore quite similar to the checking of fuel: the teams submit their electronic programs to the FIA, which scrutinizes them before the start of the season and keeps a copy of them as a “fingerprint” once they have been approved. When the cars are inspected during the season, all that needs to be done is to check that there are no differences between the two, and if there are, to scrutinize the differences for any breaches of the F1 technical regulations. The FIA also installs “electronic locks” on cars that pass inspection to prevent unauthorized programming, and physically marks the locks so that no one can open them until the race is completed. If prohibited electronic driving aids are installed, the inspection team will report the situation to the race committee, which will impose penalties on the prohibited cars.
42. Who are the members of the Race Committee? What powers do they have?
The Race Committee is equivalent to the referee of a race and consists of three persons who investigate the reports submitted by the technical officials, listen to the explanations and arguments of the parties involved in the incident, and make a judgment. In order to ensure the fairness of the race, the members of the Race Committee vary from race to race, with two of the three members being appointed by the FIA from amongst those who hold a race license, and the third being appointed by the Sporting Commission of the country in which the race is held. The two members appointed by the FIA cannot be of the nationality of the country in which the event is held. In addition to passing judgment, the FIA has the right to request a driver or team to appear before the World Motor Sport Council if they deem it necessary.
43. What are the main types of penalties?
Penalties can take various forms, including stoppages, fines, removals, suspensions, lifetime bans, etc., as well as points deductions from the overall result. Fouls in the qualifying stage may result in the disqualification of the qualifying result or, in the case of an official race, penalize a driver for starting from the bottom of the grid.
44. What is a penalty stop?
During the race, the race committee can penalize the offending driver, after receiving the notice of penalty, the driver must drive the car into his team's pit lane, the penalty time is usually 10 seconds, during this period, the pit crew can not touch the car, that is to say, can not do any work such as changing tires, refueling, etc. The penalty time is 10 seconds. After completing the penalty stop, the driver leaves the pit lane to continue the race. Since getting in and out of the pits also takes a lot of time, a 10-second penalty stop will actually consume 30 to 40 seconds of the driver's time, depending on the track. There is another penalty that is less severe than a stop-and-go penalty: passing through the pits. The driver who receives this penalty is required to drive his car into the pits and then drive away without stopping. Depending on the track, this penalty can take up to 20 seconds of the driver's time. If a stop-and-go penalty is assessed less than 5 laps from the end of the race, the driver may not have to pull into the pits for the penalty, but only 25 seconds will be added to the time he finished the race.
45. Is the decision of the race committee final?
No. A Stop and Start Penalty is final as it is an immediate penalty during the race. However, if a driver believes that the Race Committee's decision is unfair, he can appeal to the FIA Appeals Tribunal, but he must express his wish to do so within one hour of receiving the penalty. The FIA also has the right to appeal to the International Appeals Tribunal if it considers that the race meeting has made an error in its decision.