Grid penalties: no more joining the Friday queue
The highly sophisticated F1 hybrid engine is a marvel of technology, but one that has also proven mechanically vulnerable in the past few seasons, at least where Renault and Honda products were concerned.
For some teams/drivers on the receiving end of their power unit's fragility, grid penalties handed out for exceeding a component's allocation limit could reach into the 100s, a state of affairs that often had F1 fans up in arms, dazed and confused.
Last year, it was decided that anyone with a 15-plus grid penalty would simply be sent to the back of the grid. But when multiple drivers were relegated, their order was determined by the following rule: whoever left the pits first with their fresh engine or elements would be the first of the laggards at the back of the grid.
This led to drivers leaving their garage ridiculously early on Friday mornings to queue up at the end of the pit lane, and thus determine the order of where they would line up at the back of Sunday's grid. It also encouraged those penalized to sit out most of qualifying on Saturday afternoons.
This year, penalised drivers will line up at the back of the grid on Sunday in the order in which they qualify, fair and square.
Scrutineering: teams will be on their own
The whole traditional process of scrutineering that took place before a race weekend has been scrapped for this year. But that doesn't mean that teams will be given a technical free pass.
At each race, competitors will have to sign a declaration that they are in compliance with F1's technical rules. And the stewards will have the ability to make random checks at any time during over the course of the weekend.
