FIA clarifies jump start rules for 2018

Drivers who don't line up their car correctly on a starting grid in 2018 will run the risk of incurring a penalty for a false start.

Sebastian Vettel's offset position on this year's China Grand Prix starting grid has prompted the FIA to tighten the rules governing a jump start in F1.

Vettel purposefully placed his car to the left of his painted grid box in Shanghai to avoid a patch of wet track, with his launch subsequently going undetected by the FIA's system.

The incident went unpunished but a clarification of the rules will prevent drivers in the future from resorting to such a tactic.

Current regulations rely only on transponder data to define whether a start was jumped or not by a driver, but the 2018 article now includes a provision relating to positioning.

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Article 36.13 of the FIA Sporting Regulations will say the following:

"Either of the penalties under Articles 38.3c) or d) will be imposed on any driver who is judged to have:

"a) Moved before the start signal is given, such judgement being made by an FIA approved and supplied transponder fitted to each car, or;

"b) Positioned his car on the starting grid in such a way that the transponder is unable to detect the moment at which the car first moved from its grid position after the start signal is given."

Drivers who anticipate the starting procedure or position their car incorrectly on the grid could be handed either a drive-through or a 10-second stop-and-go penalty.