JANUARY 4, 2012

F1's 2012 one move rule - the details

Motor racing's governing body, the FIA, has now published the 2012 sporting regulations, including the final wording on the updated 'one-move rule' appertaining to defensive driving.

Motor racing's governing body, the FIA, has now published the 2012 sporting regulations, including the final wording on the updated 'one-move rule' appertaining to defensive driving.

There has always been a certain amount of controversy over what is acceptable behaviour and what is not, when a driver is defending from a closely following competitor. Some drivers interpret the one move rule to be precisely that - in other words, once you have committed to a particular side of the track, you cannot then move back over.

The majority, however, hold that the leading driver is then perfectly within his rights to move back across to take the ideal (fastest) line through the ensuing corner, without such action constituting another move. In practice, that means that unless the following driver is right alongside him, the leading driver has the right to use all the road.

The matter came to a particular head after Michael Schumacher's spirited defence of position from Lewis Hamilton during last year's Italian GP at Monza.

Article 20.3 of the 2012 FIA Sporting Regulations now reads: "More than one change of direction to defend a position is not permitted. Any driver moving back towards the racing line, having earlier defended his position offline, should leave at least one car width between his own car and the edge of the track on the approach to the corner."

What this means in practice is that if, for example, a driver defends the inside on the run into to a right-hand corner and then heads back left to take up the racing line on the approach to the corner, the overtaking driver who is being made 'to go the long way round' should in theory be able to keep his boot in and try to complete the move, safe in the knowledge that he will not be driven off the road.

The development appears entirely sensible and it remains to be seen whether it will lead to more commitment from the attacking driver. Inevitably there will be scope for controversy over whether the defending driver left enough room or not, but at least there is now a definition as to what that is, which can be examined with the aid of race footage by stewards.