FIA turns on rear-wing endplate lights for 2019

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The FIA's World Motor Sport Council has approved a series of changes to F1's sporting and technical regulations for 2019, among which are new rear-wing endplate lights.

The system was trialed earlier this year and is destined to improve a car's visibility in rainy and heavy spray conditions. The concept isn't new, with the WEC's prototype cars having been fit with endplate lights for several years now.

The following is a summary of the decisions taken during the WMSC's meeting on Friday:

Formula 1 Strategy Group and Commission proposals concerning the 2019 Technical Regulations were agreed, including:

- Changes to the mirror regulations and also associated rear wing changes (height) for rear view visibility and safety (Articles 3.6 and 14.3)
- The on-board camera regulations will be modified to improve the TV spectacle (Article 21)
- Rear endplate lights are to be added for safety (Article 14.5)
- Minor modifications to the halo fairing (Article 15.2.6) are to be made for safety reasons during a potential driver extraction

The Council approved changes to the 2019 Sporting Regulations including:

- Changes to the Safety Car regulations to ensure there is a consistent point at which drivers may overtake when the Safety Car returns to the pits. This will now be the same in all three types of restart
- The teams will now be responsible for initial scrutineering of their cars. Before the cars go on track for the first time, teams must declare conformity with all safety related matters
- The official end-of-race signal will now be a chequered light panel, although the chequered flag will still be shown

For 2020, the team personnel curfew – the amount of time for which all team personnel must be away from the track – will increase from eight to nine hours.

The WMSC also gave its final approval for the calendar for the 2019 season.

 

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