The sporting regulations for Formula 2 and Formula 3 have been updated to include gender-neutral language, a clampdown on slowing down in the pit lane and new overnight curfew periods for teams’ operational personnel. Here’s what you need to know.

By Steven Walton

The most noticeable change to the F2 and F3 sporting regulations, which were published by the FIA on 7 December, is the complete removal of gendered language to refer to drivers. Previous iterations referred to both drivers and officials with the pronouns he, him and his, but these have been updated to the pronouns they, them and their or simply ‘the driver’. 

This change removes ambiguity from the regulations as well as the incorrect implication that only men could compete in and officiate races Several women have competed in F2 and F3 and predecessor series GP2 and GP3 over the years, most recently Tatiana Calderón in F2 and Sophia Floersch in F3. Calderón raced in F2 in 2019 and made a four-round comeback in 2022.  Floersch raced in F3 in 2019, 2020 and 2023, becoming the first woman to score points in the current iteration of series earlier this year, and is expected to continue in F3 in 2024 with Van Amersfoort Racing.

Among officials, Spain’s Silvia Bellot served as F2 and F3 race director in 2020, becoming the first woman in FIA history to hold such a role.

In other changes for 2024, drivers who cause a red flag in qualifying could now lose their fastest lap time. According to the tweaked article 33.5, a driver deemed to be the “sole cause” of a red flag cannot continue in qualifying, “and their fastest lap time during the session may be deleted.” 

Drivers will also have to be more careful in the pit lane next year. A new rule, numbered as article 28.6, has been added to say that drivers leaving their pit boxes in qualifying or returning to their boxes in any session must do so “without delay”. The rules have also clarified that slowing down to create a gap for a double-stack pit stop is forbidden at pit entry and in pit lane and that any such manoeuvres must instead be done on track.

Per the new article 21.6, official curfew periods will be introduced in F2 and F3 in 2024, covering Friday and Saturday nights. During the curfew, team personnel will be forbidden from working on cars and components and engineers cannot carry out work on computers.

The first curfew lasts from five hours after the end of qualifying to four hours before pit lane opens for the sprint race, while the second curfew lasts from seven hours after the end of the sprint race to three hours before pit lane opens for the feature race.

During the year, teams are permitted five exceptions to the rule allowing them to break the curfew without incurring a penalty. After that, the penalties are harsh. If a team breaks the Friday night curfew, both of their cars will start the sprint race from the pit lane. If the breach happens on Saturday night, then the same penalty is applied for the feature race.

Drivers should be more wary of reprimands in 2024. A new rule states any F2 or F3 driver who accumulates five reprimands throughout the year will receive a five-place grid penalty for their next race. Reprimands are generally given by the stewards for breaches of the regulations not deemed serious enough to warrant a grid penalty or time penalty.

The start of wet races could be slightly different in 2024. Article 24.16 of the F2 regulations and 24.15 of the F3 regulations previously said that when a formation lap began behind the safety car because of rain, drivers were required to fit wet-weather tyres. These portions are unchanged, but a caveat has been added to state that the rules only take effect “if so directed by the Race Director.”

There are several other changes throughout the regulations, most of them minor. They include:

• Article 6.4: The F2 entry entry fee for each team has increased from €50,000 to €60,000.
• Article 13: All teams, drivers and personnel must now have insurance that meets FIA requirements and national laws, instead of just national laws as required by the ASNs.
• Article 17.2: A new €6,000 fee has been added for appeals in both F2 and F3.
• Article 20.1: The race director can now call an extra drivers’ meeting at any time. Previously, the rules said this could only be done within three hours of a session’s conclusion.
• Article 24.17: Stewards may now apply a penalty reducing the number of planks available in future events if the number of planks allocated to a car per season is exceeded by more than one.
• Article 34.2: If neither practice nor qualifying takes place for a particular race weekend, the grids for the sprint and feature races will be set using the current championship standings. Additionally, a driver will now have to start from the pit lane if they fail to qualify within the 107% time and pick up a penalty in qualifying.
• Article 37.5: A driver will now be required to start from the pit lane if team equipment or personnel are still touching the car when the 15-second signal is shown before a race start. The rule previously said a driver would be required to start from pit lane if team equipment or personnel related to the operation of their car were still on the grid.
• Article 39.3.h: The list of penalties that cannot be appealed now includes the deletion of a driver’s lap time.
• Each race weekend is now called a ‘Competition’ rather than an ‘Event’.
• All references to a ‘clerk of the course’ have been changed to ‘race director’.
• F2 and F3 drivers aged under 18 next year must have a parent or guardian sign their Driver’s Deed. Prema Racing’s Andrea Kimi Antonelli is the only confirmed driver for F2 who will be younger than 18 when the season begins.

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency / Red Bull Content Pool