Race control now has the power to order Formula 1 teams to stop racing a car deemed to have been too heavily damaged.

Under new FIA rules, introduced on the eve of the new season, the race director can use their judgement to decide whether a car with “significant and obvious damage” should be told to pull over rather than return to the pit lane.

The rule change comes after a controversial incident at last year’s Canadian Grand Prix. A three-place grid penalty for the following event was handed to Sergio Perez after he drove back to the pits with serious damage to his rear wing following a spin and contact with a barrier.

Speaking with the stewards after the race, his Red Bull team admitted that, because team-mate Max Verstappen was leading the race, they did not want to risk causing the safety car to be called out onto the track by telling the Mexican to stop the car.

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The stewards took a dim view of that course of action and, on top of the sporting penalty given to Perez, slapped his team with a hefty fine. And, in the name of safety, the FIA has moved to prevent any future repeats of such a situation.

Previously, the rules stated that “if a driver has serious mechanical difficulties, he must leave the track as soon as it is safe to do so”. Now, article 26.10 of the sporting regulations gives a much more detailed instruction to drivers as well as handing that additional power to the race director to intervene if necessary.

It reads: “Any driver whose car has significant and obvious damage to a structural component which results in it being in a condition presenting an immediate risk of endangering the driver or others, or whose car has a significant failure or fault which means it cannot reasonably return to the pit lane without unnecessarily impeding another competitor or otherwise hindering the competition must leave the track as soon as it is safe to do so.

“At the sole discretion of the race director, should a car be deemed to have such significant and obvious damage to a structural component, or such significant failure or fault, the competitor may be instructed that the car must leave the track as soon as it is safe to do so.”

It is not immediately clear what the punishment might be for any team or driver which ignores such a request from the race director. The person in that role this year will be Rui Marques, who took over on an interim bases after previous incumbent Niels Wittich was sacked by the FIA without warning last November.

And this year, the new position of deputy race director has been created. That role will be fulfilled by Claire Dubbelman, who also serves as the FIA’s F1 sporting manager and previously oversaw the running of 26 different racing series sanctioned by the motorsport governing body.

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