Race Directors Competition Notes V3

2026 CHINESE GRAND PRIX

13 - 15 March 2026

From The FIA Formula One Race Director Document 31

To All Teams, All Officials Date 13 March 2026

Time 18:43

Title Race Director's Competition Notes V3

Description Race Director's Competition Notes V3

Enclosed 2026 Chinese Competition NotesV3.pdf

Rui Marques

The FIA Formula One Race Director

2026 C G P HINESE RAND RIX

13 – 15 March 2026

From The FIA Formula 1 Race Director

To All Officials, All Teams Date 13 March 2026

COMPETITION NOTES V3 (changes in magenta)

General Instructions

1. Laps during Sprint Qualifying, Qualifying Session, Reconnaissance Lap(s), For the safe and orderly conduct of the Competition, other than in exceptional circumstances accepted as such by the Stewards, any driver that exceeds the maximum time from the Second Safety Car Line to the First Safety Car Line on ANY lap during and after the Sprint Qualifying, or Qualifying Session, including in-laps and out-laps or during reconnaissance laps when the pit exit is opened for the Sprint and the Race, may be deemed to be going unnecessarily slowly. Teams and Drivers will be informed of the maximum time after the Practice Session. For the avoidance of doubt, this does not supersede Articles B1.8.5 and B4.1.1 of the FIA Formula 1 Regulations, which apply to the entire Circuit, furthermore this includes the pit lane as well. Incidents will normally be investigated after the Sprint Qualifying, Qualifying Session, Sprint or the Race.

2. Parc Fermé

The Parc Fermé cameras must be always uncovered and operational during the Competition.

3. Lapping during the Sprint and the Race

The International Sporting Code (ISC) requires drivers who are caught by another car to allow the faster driver past at the first available opportunity. The F1 marshalling system will be set to give a pre-warning when the faster car is within 3.0s of the car about to be lapped, this should be used by the team of the slower car to warn their driver he is soon going to be lapped and that allowing the faster car through should be considered a priority. When the faster car is within 1.2s of the car about to be lapped blue light panels will be shown to the slower car (in addition to blue light panels, blue cockpit lights and a message on the timing monitors) and the driver must allow the following driver to overtake at the first available opportunity.

4. Article B5.13.6 of the FIA F1 Regulations In order to avoid the likelihood of accidents before the safety car returns to the pits, from the point at which the orange lights on the safety car are extinguished drivers must proceed at a pace which involves no erratic acceleration or braking nor any other manoeuvre which is likely to endanger other drivers or impede the restart.

1

5. ERS Safety Check after Covers Off In accordance with the provisions set out in Appendix B2, Section 12.1 of the FIA F1 Regulations, as work required by the Technical Delegate; Each morning, immediately after covers are removed when the cars are under parc fermé conditions (Articles B3.4.1, B3.4.2 and B3.4.3), all Teams must connect the umbilical to their cars and start a telemetry data logging for the sole purpose of checking the car ERS safety status.

6. Pit Lane Safety Article B1.6.2c of the Sporting Regulations states: “Team personnel are only allowed in the Pit Lane

immediately before they are required to work on a Car and must withdraw as soon as the work is

complete.”

For the safe and orderly conduct of the competition, in the context of the race only, the requirements

of Article B1.6.2c are considered to apply until such time as all cars able to do so have completed the

Race and have entered the designated Parc Ferme area. Following the end-of-session signal,

described in Article B2.5.3, and when the Race Director considers it safe to do so, the message “ALL

PASS HOLDERS MAY ACCESS THE PIT LANE” will be sent to all competitors using the official

messaging system; this being the signal to all competitors that the requirements of Article B1.6.2c are

no longer applicable, and thus holders of passes not valid for access to the Pit Lane (i.e. passes other

than those marked “Pit Lane” or “Pit Lane All Times”) may enter the pit lane.

Competitors are reminded that in accordance with the International Sporting Code, Article 9.15.1 “The

Competitor shall be responsible for all acts or omissions on the part of any person taking part in, or

providing a service in connection with, a Competition or a Championship on their behalf, including in

particular their employees, direct or indirect, their Drivers, mechanics, consultants, service providers,

or passengers, as well as any person to whom the Competitor has allowed access to the Reserved

Areas.

7. Lap times in all LTCS and TTCS Only lap times which have been completed on the track will be included for the purpose of any classification.

8. Starting Procedure For the safe and orderly conduct of the Competition, once all F1 Cars starting from the grid have returned to the grid at the end of the formation lap or laps prior to the Sprint and the Race or a Standing Start Resumption, the starting grid light panels will be illuminated blue (flashing) for 5 seconds and the information panel on the start gantry will display the message “Pre-Start”, following which the light sequence defined in to Article B5.7.2 of the FIA F1 Regulations will commence.

9. Driver Adjustable Bodywork Following any standing start or standing start resumption, Driver Adjustable Bodywork (straight mode) will be enabled after Turn 1.

10. Finishing the Sprint and the Race For the purpose of finishing the Sprint, pursuant to Article B2.3.3 of the Formula 1 Sporting Regulations, and the Race, pursuant to Article B2.5.3 of the FIA Formula 1 Sporting Regulations, the “Line” referred to will be the Control Line on the track and not in the Pit Lane.

Competition Specific Instructions

11. Marshalling System 11.1 A car entering the Pit Lane will be subject to the marshalling state (i.e. yellow flag or double yellow flag) of the associated sector until it passes the blue line marked on the image below.

2

Extracted image from page 4

11.2 A car leaving the Pit Lane will be subject to the marshalling system state i.e. yellow flag or double yellow flag of the sector into which it is emerging after it passes the blue line marked on the image below.

Extracted image from page 4

12. Support Races team barrier placement and movements Team barrier placement prior to and during all support category practice sessions and races: No more than (5) five meters from the garage. Please ensure that your pit stop gantry arms are moved back towards the garage during all support category activities. Support Crews and Trolleys will be released into Pit Lane no earlier than 20 minutes prior to the opening of Pit Exit for their respective sessions. Support Category competition vehicles will be released from the marshalling area no earlier than 15 minutes prior to the opening of Pit Exit for their respective sessions.

13. Practice starts

13.1 No practice starts may be carried out at pit exit. 13.2 Practice starts after the Free Practice session will be performed according to Article B4.2.2 of the FIA Formula 1 Regulations. 13.2.1 For the safe and orderly conduct of the event, pursuant to article B4.2.2, any driver on track when the end of session signal is shown, may complete two further laps, for the sole propose of stopping on the grid to perform practice starts on each of these laps. 13.3 If a Free Practice session is resumed with less than 2 minutes remaining, for the purpose of facilitating practice starts on the grid as provided for in Article B4.2.2 of the FIA F1 Regulations, any car wishing to leave the pit lane must proceed down the pit lane without undue delay and exit the pit lane without leaving a significant gap to the car ahead. 13.4 For the avoidance of doubt, practice starts may not be carried out during the Sprint Qualifying and the Qualifying Session. 13.5 Practice starts during reconnaissance laps: Cars wishing to perform a practice start should leave the pit lane using the Pit Exit Road and must NOT cross the white line painted on the left-hand side of the Pit Exit Road. They may stop at the white line painted at the pit exit road and perform a practice start. All such cars MUST then join

3

the circuit from the Pit Exit Road. Cars queuing to perform a practice must keep to the right-hand side of the Pit Exit Road to allow sufficient space for cars not wishing to do a practice start to pass. Cars NOT wishing to perform a practice start should leave the pit lane and MUST cross the white line separating the Pit Exit Road from the track at the earliest opportunity and join the “normal” racing line. All such cars MUST NOT cross back into the Pit Exit Road. (drawing bellow)

14. Article B1.6.3d of the FIA F1 Regulations (…) Any car(s) driven to the end of the Pit Lane prior to the start or re-start of a LTCS must form up in a line in the Fast Lane and leave in the order they got there (…) It is noted that a car will be considered to be “in the fast lane” when a tyre has crossed the solid white line separating the fast lane from the inner lane, in this context crossing means that all of a tyre should be beyond the far side, with respect to the garages, of the line separating the fast lane from the inner lane.

Extracted image from page 5

For the avoidance of doubt, ISC Appendix L, Chapter IV, Article 5b) states that: Once a car has left its garage or pit stop position it should blend into the fast lane as soon as it is safe to do so, and without unnecessarily impeding cars which are already in the fast lane. Thus, after the start or re-start of the Free Practice session and/or Sprint Qualifying and Qualifying Session, if there is a suitable gap in a queue of cars in the fast lane, such that a driver can blend into the fast lane safely and without unnecessarily impeding cars already in the fast lane, they are free to do so. Furthermore, it is noted that during the Free Practice session, Sprint Qualifying and Qualifying Session a car driving in the inner lane, parallel to the fast lane, will not be considered to have blended into the fast lane at the earliest opportunity. Additionally, ISC Appendix L, Chapter IV, Article 5d) states that: Cars in either the fast lane or working lane may not overtake other cars in the fast lane except in exceptional circumstances. In this context a “stopped car” is one which has an obvious mechanical problem.

15. Lines at the Pit Entry and Pit Exit 15.1 In accordance with Chapter 4, Articles 4 and 6 of Appendix L to the ISC drivers must follow the procedures at pit entry and pit exit. 15.2 For safety reasons, the line that is at pit exit, includes the line painted on the track at pit exit and continuing after SC2 line. 15.3 If there is a yellow flag displayed at MP16.2 on RHS at the pit entry road it will be a warning of an incident around the corner of the pit entry. This flag is not intended for drivers staying on track. 15.4 Drivers entering the pit entry road must stay to the right of the solid white line. Drivers are allowed to cross the dotted white line on the left. In the area of the dotted white line drivers are not allowed to overtake.

4

Extracted image from page 6

15.5 Pertaining to Chapter 4, Article 4 of Appendix L to the ISC any driver crossing the dotted line after the safety car line 1 on the right hand side of the solid white line separating the pit entry road from the track, as indicated in the image bellow, will be considered as entering the pit lane.

Extracted image from page 6

15.6 For the safe and orderly conduct of the event, during any live session, team personnel are not allowed in the pit lane beyond the finish line crossing the pit lane, as indicated in the picture below.

Extracted image from page 6

15.7 During the reconnaissance laps prior to the Sprint and the Race drivers are allowed to cross the white line separating the pit exit road from the circuit. 15.8 At the pit entry road, the exit of the left-hand side turn area (with the Qatar advertisement) will be monitor as a track limit.

16. Stopping the Qualifying Session For the safe and orderly conduct of the competition, should any period of the Sprint Qualifying and the Qualifying Session be stopped with less than 90 seconds remaining, the Race Director with the agreement of the Stewards may decide that the relevant period of the Qualifying Session will not be resumed, i.e. that part of the competition will be stopped.

17. Post Sprint Qualifying and Qualifying Session drivers weighing Any driver who has finished participating in the Qualifying Session after SQ1or SQ2, Q1 or Q2 must proceed through the pit lane directly to the FIA scales immediately after they have returned to their team’s garage. The drivers may not drink anything or do anything which increases their weight before

5

it is recorded by the FIA. Any driver who stops on the track during the Sprint Qualifying or the Qualifying Session and is not required to visit the Medical Centre must proceed to the FIA scales to get their weight recorded before returning to his team. Drivers who finish within the top 10 must proceed to the FIA scales immediately when out of their cars without contact with any other person.

18. Track Limits

The white line (continuous and dotted) across pit exit marks the track edge line.

Extracted image from page 7

19. ERS Hazard Status If the ERS is in a Hazard Status, the relevant team will be required to send mechanics in front of the race control after the session. They will then be picked up by car to bring them to their car after the session.

20. Leaving the garage before and during all Practice Sessions 20.1 Before the start of the Free Practice Session, Sprint Qualifying, Qualifying Session or prior to the pit exit opening for the reconnaissance laps, no cars may enter the pit lane to proceed to pit exit until 5 minutes before the start of the session. 20.2 If the Free Practice Session, Sprint Qualifying or Qualifying Session is stopped, cars may only enter the Fast Lane after the re-start time is confirmed via the official messaging system.

21. Fire extinguishers around the circuit Indicated by white boards with a red fire extinguisher attached to the debris fences.

22. Places to remove cars from the track Indicated by fluorescent orange panels/paintings on the barriers.

23. Removing cars from the grid 23.1 Cars may be removed from the grid through the gates adjacent to the start line and the grid position 5 and 18. 23.2 Opening on the right-hand side at the grid position 27.

24. Sprint and Race Suspension or Starting Procedure Suspension 24.1 In case of Race suspension or Starting Procedure suspension, (except in case of Article B5.14.3 of the Sporting Regulations – stopping on the grid), cars will be stopped in the fast lane. The first car must stop in the vicinity of the pit exit lights. Safety Car resumption point: Safety Car will leave the pit lane 1 minute before the resumption and wait for the F1 cars after Turn 6 (as per the image below).

6

25. Grid Panel Placement On the right-hand side of the grid.

26. Grid Procedure Article B5.2.4 states that “Any F1 Car which does not complete a reconnaissance lap and reach the grid under its own power will not be permitted to start the TTCS from the grid.”. In the context of this article the grid shall be considered to be the section of track highlighted by the RED box in the image below, starting from the front of marked grid box #1 and finishing at the rear of marked grid box #28:

Extracted image from page 8

27. Detection Line The detection line referred to in Article B7.2.1, is at the same location of the Safety Car Line 1, therefore, will not be painted in yellow. OT boards are installed on both sides of the track.

28. Changes to the Circuit

• Reduced the height of the back of the kerb at the apex of Turn 3.

• Realignment of the tyre barrier at Turn 7 on the left-hand side.

• TSP 17 (before Turn 14) moved to 100m before the turn.

Rui Marques

The FIA Formula 1 Race Director

7