Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsFormula 1

F1 race weekend could be set for 'innovative changes'

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F1 race weekends could follow a different format in 2016 after a meeting of the Strategy Group proposed "several exciting and innovative changes".

The Strategy Group met at Biggin Hill on Wednesday, with representatives from Mercedes, Red Bull, Ferrari, Williams, McLaren and Force India joining the FIA and Bernie Ecclestone in discussing future changes to the sport. With increased restrictions on driver aids agreed upon for implementation this season, there were also a number of other topics discussed with a view to change in 2016.

One area of focus is the race weekend itself, with the FIA announcing: "Several exciting and innovative changes to the qualifying and race weekend formats have also been discussed and are being evaluated by FIA and FOM for a 2016 introduction."

2016 is also set to see an "increased freedom of choice for tyre compounds", though the detail of such a change is yet to be agreed upon with tyre supplier Pirelli.

The FIA and FOM will also evaluate the power unit regulations as the governing body looks to impose a cost cap on the V6 turbos for customer teams. Both parties will also look in to an increase in race fuel allowance as well as undertaking a "full review of the token system".

Any proposed changes to the regulations for 2016 will need to receive unanimous approval from all of the teams via the F1 Commission, with next week's World Motor Sport Council in Mexico City able to then adopt the changes.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.