The plan to have standing starts after safety car periods in 2015 has been abandoned after this week’s meetings of the Strategy Group and F1 Commission.
The decision came after teams did more research into what it meant, and concerns emerged regarding issues such as tyre temperatures and pressures, and the complex procedures required in the cockpit prior to any start. There were also question marks over the build-up of tyre marbles on one side of the grid creating a handicap for drivers on that side.
As has been expected for some time double points for the final race have also gone after F1 insiders accepted that the public didn’t like the idea. Fortunately they did not affect the outcome of this year’s title battle, but they also did not contribute to extending it until the final race.
The original plan, as suggested by Bernie Ecclestone, had been to have three double point races, in order to reduce the risk of a team losing out through one bad weekend.
As discussed here on Friday teams have also provisionally agreed that the likes of Caterham and Marussia can use the 2014 spec engines, if they want to. They are likely to be cheaper than the 2015 spec, and in Caterham’s case at least will open up the chance to use the 2014 chassis without major modifications to accommodate new packaging. Currently rules allow manufacturers to homologate only one engine spec.
Any changes agreed at the F1 Commission now have to be passed by the World Motor Sport Council, which meets next week in Qatar.
Adam Cooper F1 
Well it’s encouraging to see the fiddles playing on while the uncontrolled burn continues……
So Caterham gets to guarantee it’s last place on the grid it already can’t afford to pay it’s employees to be on.
Sweet.
And of course before using 2014 spec engines they have to pay their 2014 engine debts.
Who in their right minds is going to buy a mountain of unpaid 2014 bills for the privilege of running up MORE debt in 2015???
This is why Haas is pursuing a start up; he will at the least drive his own truck of accumulated debt off the bankruptcy cliff.
He’s wise to learn from the mistakes of all the teams that came on line in the last days of Max Mosely. Today anyone wanting to enter F-1 needs to have a considerable war chest to start.
The constant fiddling with rules is getting quite tedious, and reinforces the impression that many of us have had for some time that FOM has abandoned any shred of a concept of Formula 1 as a sporting endeavor, but considers it purely as entertainment.