This is the second of a long series of entries attempting to explain the FIA Sporting Regulations. Here, I explain the things in Article 1 - which makes this a relatively short entry. Quote: 1.1 The final text of these Sporting Regulations shall be the English version which will be used should any dispute arise as to their interpretation. The FIA is based in France and its International Sporting Code is primarily in French. However most of the teams, the FOM and the locus of power in F1 are all English, which is reflected in the Sporting Regulations' language. Quote: Headings in this document are for ease of reference only and do not form part of these Sporting Regulations. This is the sort of extremely obvious thing that is only necessary because the main targets for this document are nit-picking lawyer and racer types who have learned to look for the slightest of loopholes. So if properly written, the Sporting Regulations can't provide any. Quote: These Sporting Regulations will only be amended in accordance with the provisions of The 2009 Concorde Agreement. I have never seen the 2009 Concorde Agreement - hardly surprising, since it's a secret document - but it does mean that the Sporting Regulations can't be changed on a whim. Somewhere there's a procedure which must be followed, but I don't know what that procedure is yet. Quote: 1/2 These Sporting Regulations were published on the date written below This is vitally important, especially in previous years when the regulations were frequently changed mid-season. Ironically it is only now that we have a president who makes changes far less frequently (at least on the small sample that we've seen) that the wording of Article 1.2 changed so that it didn't need to be rewritten every single revision. "Below" refers to the footer of each page of the Sporting Regulations, which has featured the date of publication for as long as I can remember. Quote: and shall apply in accordance with the provisions of The 2009 Concorde Agreement. This clause demonstrates that the Sporting Regulations are not the final word on how F1 is regulated. The Concorde Agreement doubtless has some clause which allows the FIA to apply its own Statutes and the International Sporting Code to the series, but it will have other principles that prevent the FIA from doing what it likes.

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Warning! Long entry alert!

This is the first of a rather long series of entries explaining the FIA Sporting Regulations. Beginning at the beginning means looking at the preamble (I assume for the sake of brevity that nobody needs an explanation for the contents list). This preamble can be regarded as Article 0, even though it isn't numbered.

The format will be to quote each bit of each Article in turn, try to figure out what it does and, if relevant, suggest how it relates to what went before. All quotes are from the 2010 FIA F1 Sporting Regulations dated 10 February 2010.
Quote:
The FIA will organise the FIA Formula One World Championship (the Championship)



The very first clause in the preamble establishes solidly that only one organisation can organise the F1 championship under its current name. If the FIA decides it's not organising it, it's not happening. Likewise, the teams and CVC cannot request the championship be run by another body, even if the FIA is deemed incompetent by a court.

Note that the formal title is "Formula One World Championship", which is one of the reasons why the courts have deemed Bernie's attempts to fully copyright "F1" illegal. It's a little difficult to argue that your championship has the unconditional right to a given term if it formally uses a different one to refer to itself!

The establishment of power structure is the first task achieved by the regulations. This may say something about the priorities of those who originally wrote these regulations many moons ago.
Quote:
which is the property of the FIA



Just in case anyone is in any doubt, the series cannot leave the hands of the FIA without invalidating the Regulations. Again, this solidifies the power structure in F1, but it also restricts how the FIA can fund the costs it bears in organising the event. Hence Bernie and CVC only have the leased rights to commercial exploit F1, not F1 itself or a share thereof.
Quote:
and comprises two titles of World Champion, one for drivers and one for constructors.



This establishes that there can only be two titles in the championship. This has changed in the distant past (until 1958 there was only a title for drivers). Given that there's also an award for most number of fastest laps awarded, this rule is clearly not meant to prevent other, non-FIA-regulated awards from being given out for cross-season performance.
Quote:
It consists of the Formula One Grand Prix races



This establishes the formal title of each race as a "Formula One Grand Prix". It could not be anything shorter because "Grand Prix", like "Formula One", is used in several other contexts. The combination is not and can therefore be a title effectively protected by copyright.
Quote:
which are included in the Formula One calendar



This means nobody can call their race a "Formula One Grand Prix" and expect it to count for the title. It gives the FIA control over the calender (well, partial control seeing as the commercial element of the calender has been delegated to Bernie/CVC) and thus (partial) control over where the championship goes. There's an entire Appendix of the International Sporting Code devoted to specifying the basics of what the FIA demands of a circuit, but other stipulations are given in the Sporting Regulations, mostly by implication.
Quote:
and in respect of which the ASNs and organisers have signed organisation agreements as set out in The 2009 Concorde Agreement.



ASNs are the bodies to whom the FIA delegates national powers. Among many other things, they do initial processing on paperwork for team entries, appeals and other indirect interactions with the FIA to ensure that said interactions are handled correctly. "Organisers" means "circuit organisers". This bit binds them to the Concorde Agreement, which specifies financial repayments and other things the powers that be would rather keep secret.
Quote:

All the participating parties (FIA, ASNs, organisers, competitors and circuits) undertake to apply as well as observe the
rules governing the Championship



This part says who can be given penalties for non-compliance with the regulations. Notably suppliers are absent, which caused problems at USA 2005. Also, the only members of a team who can be penalised directly for their actions are those specifically named on competitor entry forms. Everyone else can do what they like and get no direct penalty, hence why the FIA had to make an out-of-court settlement in order to penalise Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds as individuals for the Nelsinho Defence.
Quote:
and must hold FIA Super Licences which are issued to drivers, competitors,
officials, organisers and circuits.



The Super Licence is only applicable to F1 and effectively enables the FIA to control who can and cannot enter F1. Historically, merit has been the primary restriction imposed, along with ability/willingness to follow the regulations.

Driver Super Licences are tackled in Appendix L of the International Sporting Code. Circuit Super Licences are in Appendix O. Competitor Super Licences are covered in Article 13 of the Sporting Regulations. I'm not sure where the officials' and organisers' Super Licences are covered.

If you think there is anything I can do to improve this resource, please say so - this is going to be a long project and it would be best if I found a way that made sense and was useful for my readers as soon as possible.

Explanation This is the start of a new and ambitious series. My intention is to go through the entire Sporting Regulations, Article by Article, and attempt to explain why each bit of each regulation is there. The idea has been bubbling ever since Monte Carlo; it took me two readings of the regulations to figure out that Michael Schumacher was going to get a penalty despite having what I'd like to think is reasonable familiarity with the regulations' contents. The reaction from other people to Michael's penalty suggested that it wasn't me who was initially not quite thinking the same way as the stewards. This strikes me as a good time to do a regulation analysis of this type; unlike Max Mosley, Jean Todt has shown remarkable restraint in going a whole five months without issuing a new version of the Sporting Regulations. It is likely that the next amendment will be after the season ends. Even with the many interruptions I expect will occur, the guide should therefore be completable with one version of the document. (For reference, this will be the 2010 Sporting Regulations, updated 10 February 2010, unless otherwise stated). I anticipate there being one entry per Article, though I may have to split some of the longer Articles into multiple pieces. This is a project I can fit in between other more ephermal entries. Hope this project is useful.