Define when space is earned, how it must be respected and where responsibility lies in battle.
You can only make 1 defensive move on straights leading up to a corner. The defender can cover one side of the track, then return to the racing line if the opponent has no part of their car alongside when moving back over to the racing line. Moving over too late/erratically will be penalized as a dangerous manoeuvre on the straight.
Excessive weaving on straights with a car less than a second behind you is forbidden, breaching this rule will be penalized.
Moving under braking will be penalized if the opponent must take evasive action to avoid you or if there is a collision. If you lift into a corner to LiCo/charge your battery, you cannot change your line after lifting. For simplicity, moving after lifting will be treated as moving under braking.
“Significantly alongside” is defined as the attacker’s front wheel being completely ahead of the defender’s rear wheel at turn-in point. Divebombing to get significantly alongside can be penalized if the divebomb is not deemed to be in a controlled manner.
An attacker must be significantly alongside the defender to deserve space, if not, they will be deemed at fault for contact that occurs. Divebombing dangerously to get sufficiently alongside can still be penalized.
If the attacker fulfils the above condition, the defender must respect their space and give them adequate racing room. (Definition in rule 6.5 below) The attacker must respect the defender’s space in the same way.
The driver defending on the inside may move over to take the racing line on the exit if the attacker is not significantly alongside on the outside at the apex of the corner. Forcing a driver off the track will be penalized.
The driver on the outside may turn into the apex if the opponent is not significantly alongside, taking avoiding action is recommended if needed. If the driver on the inside is significantly alongside, you must respect their space and not turn into them/cut across them. Penalties for causing a collision will apply in the event of contact.
If you gain a position by going off-track or by forcing the other driver off-track or off their racing line through contact (push-to-pass) then you should return the position, this may help rule an incident as NFA (No Further Action), otherwise you will be penalized for leaving the track and gaining an advantage or forcing another driver off the track or push-to-pass.
Avoiding contact is always advised when needed, if avoiding contact is the best choice and can easily be done but you do not, it may result in a lesser penalty for the driver at fault or a penalty for you.
Deliberate contact with another driver in any session will be penalized harshly.
Some tracks (e.g. Abu Dhabi) may have glitches where the game awards unfair track limits penalties on the pitlane entry or exit. These warnings may be removed post-race provided the driver has footage of both the unfair warning, and proof of the total amount of warnings they had at the end of the race.
The FIA will define curbs and track conditions, if necessary, before the race weekend in #pre-race-briefing. These will be used in conjunction with Rule 6.5 to determine fault in incidents.
