46. What is the International Appeals Tribunal?

It is the FIA's own supreme court, independent of motorsport itself. The Tribunal consists of 15 members, each of whom has a three-year term of office, elected by the FIA Congress from amongst prominent lawyers and judges from the 123 member countries, some of whom are themselves judges of the highest court in their country. At least three judges must be present at each hearing of the International Appeals Tribunal, none of whom can be of the same nationality as the parties to the matter under consideration.

47. What are the duties of the Clerk of the Course and the Tournament Director?

The Clerk of the Course is appointed by the Sports Commission of the country in which the event takes place, from among the nationals who hold an FIA license. He works in conjunction with the track crew and other race officials and is under the direction and supervision of the Race Director. The Race Director is appointed by the FIA and exercises his authority throughout the season. The Race Director is also the Safety Representative and the Race Starter (who gives the instruction to start the race). The person waving the chequered flag at the end of a race is usually the Clerk of the Course.

48. How does the race start?

Half an hour before the race, the cars leave the pits, stop at the starting grid and turn off their engines. Pit exits are closed for the first 15 minutes and cars not on track are required to wait for the start of the race to depart from the exits. The starting area is closed for the first 5 minutes, again cars not in position will have to wait. For the first 1 minute, all car engines start. For the first 15 seconds, the technicians leave the track. When the green light comes on, the drivers run a warm-up lap and return to the starting grid. Once all the cars are in position, the 5 red lights go out to signal the start in turn, at intervals of 0.2 to 3 seconds, which vary from race to race and are kept secret. If a driver's warm-up lap is blocked and he cannot return to the starting grid in time, he must start from the pits.

49. How is a jump found?

Electronic sensors are installed in every parking space at the starting point. If a car jumps the start before the starting lights come on, the sensors will send a signal to the control center to find out which driver has jumped the start. The race committee will usually penalize the driver who has jumped the start with a stop-and-go penalty.

50. What happens if the car fails to start at the starting point?

There are three scenarios:

• If a driver is unable to start after the green light for the start of the warm-up lap, a technician can assist with the start, but the driver will be at the bottom of the grid. If the driver starts before the last driver passes the start/finish line, he/she can pass the car behind him/her in qualifying and return to the original grid position.
• If a driver is unable to start before the official race after the warm-up lap, he must wave his arm to be seen by the race starter, and the yellow light will flash to indicate that the starting program is suspended, and the countdown will return to the 5-minute countdown before the race. The number of official race laps will be reduced by one, and the faulty driver will start at the end of the grid.
• After all the red lights go out and the driver cannot start, the starting program cannot be restarted, the track staff pushes the car back to the pit lane, if it can be started, it can continue the race, otherwise it will be withdrawn.