F1 drivers required to be more accessible

Formula 1 will become more accessible to fans and media under new rules ratified by a meeting of the FIA World Council in Paris today.

Drivers will have to make themselves available for autograph signings in their designated team space in the pit lane on the first day of practice. Drivers who are knocked out in qualifying must be available for media interviews at the end of each session and all drivers must do the same during and after the race, depending on what has happened to them. During the races each team must have at least one senior spokesperson available for interviews by officially accredited TV crews.

In order to improve the quality of F1's presentation the FIA will publish car weights after qualifying. The tires will have different nomenclature with wet tires becoming known as intermediates and extreme weather tires becoming wets.