MARCH 20, 2002

Administrative details...

THE FIA World Council has tidied up a few of the less clear rules relating to Formula 1 in an effort to avoid potentially embarrassing and difficult situations in the future. Any car which is left behind when the field departs for its final parade lap will in future be pushed off the grid and into the pitlane after 30 seconds. Up until now the teams have been able to continue to work on the cars until the last minute and there have often been clashes with marshals over when a car must be pushed away. Now the rule is clear.

Similarly, the FIA has clarified the situation regarding the granting of numbers for each F1 season, following the confusion in December last year. The convention has, for some years, been that the teams are given the numbers corresponding to the teams's finishing positions in the previous year's World Championship. The only difference being if the World Champion moves to another team - in which case the numbers 1 and 2 go to the team to which he has signed. Although it is not detailed in the new rule, the convention has been that if the World Champion retires the team for which he drove will use the numbers 0 and 2.