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Formula 1’s 2025 rules changed how teams handled fastest laps, hot-weather conditions, older-car testing, rookie practice appearances, wing flexibility, qualifying grids and tyre development. Here are the seven changes in the season’s official explainer, with when and how each applied. This is a retrospective guide to 2025, not a statement of the rules in force for 2026.
1. The fastest-lap bonus point was removed
From 2025, drivers no longer received a bonus point for setting the fastest lap in a Grand Prix. The point had been available since 2019 to a driver who finished in the top ten. The usual points remained: the top ten score in a Grand Prix, and the top eight in a Sprint. Removing the bonus eliminated the incentive attached specifically to chasing fastest lap; it does not, by itself, establish how race results or strategy changed.
Formula 1’s 2025 rule-change explainer
2. A heat hazard could trigger mandatory driver cooling equipment
If the forecast predicted a temperature of at least 31°C at some point during a Sprint or Grand Prix, the FIA could declare a Heat Hazard and notify teams. Once declared, teams had to fit the mandated driver cooling system. The threshold is based on the forecast, not a claim that the measured temperature at every point on the circuit must reach 31°C.
The equipment was not air conditioning. The FIA’s media kit describes a fireproof shirt with tubing through which fluid circulates, connected to a pump, plumbing and a thermal store. To account for the added system, the permitted car weight allowance increased by 2 kg for practice, qualifying and Sprint qualifying, and by 5 kg for a Sprint or Grand Prix.
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- Official NFHS Rule Book
FIA Official Formula 1 Media Kit: 2025 Rules & Regulations
3. Race drivers faced tighter limits on testing older cars
Teams could still conduct up to 20 days of Testing of Previous Cars (TPC) in a calendar year, but race drivers were more restricted: each could take part on no more than four days and could drive no more than 1,000 km in total. These limits concern track time in cars at least two seasons old.
The limits did not apply to tyre testing or promotional running with current machinery, as distinguished in Formula 1’s explainer. A team could have only one TPC car available at a time.
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Formula 1’s 2025 rule-change explainer and the FIA 2025 media kit set out these limits.
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Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →4. Teams had to give rookies more FP1 time
For this requirement, a rookie was a driver who had participated in no more than two Formula 1 races. Each team had to run a rookie twice in each of its cars during the season: four rookie appearances in FP1 per team in total. The previous requirement was once in each car, so the obligation doubled.
Formula 1’s 2025 rule-change explainer
5. DRS and flexible-wing checks became stricter
The rear-wing DRS was defined as having only two states: open and closed. The change was aimed at preventing designs that flexed at speed to create an intermediate, “mini-DRS” effect. The rear-wing slot-gap test load rose from 10 N to 30 N, making the compliance test more stringent.
Timing differed by wing: the stricter rear-wing deflection tests applied from the start of the season, while the new front-wing tests took effect from the Spanish Grand Prix. Barcelona was Round 9 in 2025.
Formula 1’s explainer, the FIA 2025 media kit and the FIA Formula 1 Commission statement of February 18, 2025 describe the tests and their timing.
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6. Qualifying grid fallback and tie-break rules were clarified
The revised procedures addressed cases in which qualifying or Sprint qualifying could not take place, as well as cases where multiple drivers failed to set a time.
If a qualifying session could not be held
If the stewards accepted that qualifying or Sprint qualifying could not take place, the grid was set using the Drivers’ Championship order. If that order could not be used, as at the first event of the season, the stewards determined the grid.
If drivers could not be separated by their session progress
When multiple drivers did not set times and could not be distinguished by whether they had started a flying lap or left the pits to attempt one, their positions were resolved using the order from the previous segment.
Formula 1’s explainer and the FIA 2025 media kit describe the qualifying procedures.
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7. Abu Dhabi’s end-of-season test included a mule car for 2026 tyres
The Abu Dhabi end-of-season test paired the usual Young Driver Test with a mule car adapted for testing the next generation of tyres. The permitted test car could be a 2025 car or a car from the previous four years, suitably modified for the tyre supplier’s track testing. The FIA and Formula 1 sources describe the 2026 tyres as differing in dimensions and specification from the 2025 Pirelli tyres.
This was a development-testing provision, not a change to the race format. Its purpose was to let the tyre supplier test the new specification on track using an adapted car.
Formula 1’s explainer and the FIA 2025 media kit set out the test arrangement.
Other changes announced by the FIA
The seven items above are the headline changes in Formula 1’s 2025 explainer, not a complete inventory of every regulatory update. In a February 18, 2025 statement, the FIA Formula 1 Commission also listed removal of limits on the number of gearboxes and revisions to Sprint and race start procedures, including aborted starts. The statement said the changes remained subject to World Motor Sport Council approval when announced.
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