6-1 Driving Standards 

6-1.1 It is the intention of Contest of Speed to follow the rules and regulations of real-life Formula One wherever they are applicable, with the exception of the additional rules provided in this document.
6-1.2 Where no such additional rule is provided at the time of the incident, stewards and admins will defer to the latest copy of the F1 rules and regulations available publicly at https://www.fia.com.
6-1.3 In the spirit of F1 based competition, it is expected that competitors are to always race cleanly, without exception no contact should occur between cars on track, intentionally or accidentally. Those in contravention of these expectations if judged to be at fault will be penalised accordingly.
6-1.4 In order to successfully and accurately steward incidents as a result of wheel-to-wheel racing, the use of proximity arrows is now mandatory. Failure to have them enabled can result in a penalty point being applied to your virtual licence. 

6-2 Race Etiquette  

6-2.1 Intentionally breaking marker boards is forbidden. Anyone seen to be doing this in qualifying/race could be handed a penalty ranging from 5 seconds per infringement to DSQ depending on severity (Steward’s Discretion).
6-2.2 If you are involved in an on-track incident do not overreact. It may be frustrating, but you need to stay calm and get on with it. Losing out due to another driver’s mistake or recklessness is no excuse for retaliation or acting against the rules.
6-2.3 No overtaking should happen during yellow flag conditions, this is classed as an illegal overtake and is penalisable by stewards +5 seconds plus 1 penalty point on virtual license per overtake, however this excludes the pitlane.
6.2.4 Any unsportsmanlike conduct that influences and manipulates the race results at the expense of other drivers will be penalized by the stewards. Nature of penalty will be by Steward discretion based off of nature of the incident with no limits to how sizable penalty can be.

6-3 Formation Lap 

6-3.1 Failure to allow a minimum wait time of 60 seconds before starting the race start countdown clock will result in 1 penalty point being added to your virtual licence.
6-3.2 The driver starting from pole position will set the pace.
6-3.3 All drivers must stay in the grid position that they qualified in during the formation lap.
6-3.4 If an driver(s) spin on the formation lap they can catch up to their original position (in a safe manner), however if they fall to the back of the grid they must stay there until the conclusion of the formation lap.
6-3.5 Formation laps should be conducted in a safe manner ensuring all drivers can correctly warm up the tyres without danger of being disqualified.
6-3.6 Causing a collision during the formation lap may be penalised.
6-3.7 During the formation lap it is prohibited to fall more than 10 car lengths behind, by the start of the third sector. Doing so can result in a penalty up to and including any timed penalty based on the severity (stewards discretion). 

6-4 Jump Starts 

6-4.1 In the event of a jump start, the driver in question must not stop and continue with motion. Failure to do so may result in additional post-race penalties from the stewards regardless of penalties received within the game. 

6-5 Tyres 

6-5.1 During a dry race, all drivers are required to use at least 2 different dry tyre compounds, failure to do so will result in a disqualification.
6-5.2 If wet tyres are required during the race, the previous rule no longer applies. 

6-6 Artifical Intelligence (AI) 

6-6.1 Unless a valid reason is supplied and supported footage is provided when requested, it is prohibited to place your car in “AI mode” during an active race session. For each offense, a 5 second time penalty and 1 penalty point will be applied. An active race session includes all racing activities up to and including qualifying and any VSC or SC conditions.
6-6.2 Drivers are held responsible for their AI actions. 

6-7 Track Reset 

6-7.1 Resetting to the track is not permitted. If reported and found guilty driver(s) will receive a penalty based on severity (Stewards Discretion).
6-7.2 The above rule will become void in the extreme circumstances you become ‘beached’. If you become ‘beached’ you are allowed to reset to track once there is clear/safe space to do so. (footage may be required to prove this).
6-7.3 If a driver goes off track, they must take the necessary actions to rejoin the track in a safe manner which does not affect other drivers. Violations of this will result in a minimum 5 second time penalty plus 1 penalty point per offense. 

6-8 Retiring 

6-8.1 Retiring from the race must be done in the pits.
6-8.2 In case of an emergency we strongly advice that drivers pause the game unless they can not safely retire in the pitlane.
6-8.3 Deliberately retiring from the race in any way is not permitted. For the avoidance of doubt, the following applies:

• • Pausing the game, then selecting retire = Qualifying Ban & 2 penalty points;
  • Parking the car resulting in disqualification = Qualifying Ban & 2 penalty points;
  • Crashing your car = Race Ban & 4 penalty points;
  • Crashing your car into an opponent = Immediate League Ban.

Note: Any DNF that causes a Safety Car or VSC will only be investigated should an affected driver report it following the race, following the appropriate process as with all incidents.

6-9 Overtaking & Defending 

6-9.1 Overtaking may be done from the left or the right.
6-9.2 More than one change of direction to defend a position is not permitted and may result in a penalty.
6-9.3 At the beginning of a straight, a driver may choose their line without it being considered as a defensive manoeuvre.
6-9.4 Any driver moving back to the racing line, having earlier defended their position off-line, must leave at least one car width between themselves and the edge of the track on the approach to the corner.
6-9.5 Moving under braking is prohibited and may result in a penalty.
6-9.6 Any driver defending their position on a straight, and before any braking area, may use the full width of the track during their first move providing there is no significant portion of the opposing car alongside them. To clear any doubt, a significant portion of the car is deemed as any part of the front wheel alongside the rear axle of the car in front.
6-9.7 Manoeuvres liable to hinder other cars, such as deliberate pushing of a car beyond the edge of the track or any abnormal change in direction such as weaving on a straight is not permitted and may result in a penalty.
6-9.8 An overtaking car must take reasonable effort to avoid contact with the opposing drivers and must not make dangerous or unnecessary manoeuvres to pass. Drivers causing incidents through dangerous overtaking manoeuvres (such as divebombs) may be penalised. Overtaking cars are responsible for avoiding collisions.
6-9.9 A defending car must be aware of when to concede their position to the opposing vehicle, any action taken to defend their positions deemed dangerous may be penalised.
6-9.10 If a driver is attempting to overtake around the outside of a corner, if their front wheels are not level or ahead of the car on the inside at the apex, then the driver on the inside is permitted to crowd the car on the outside to the edge of the circuit on exit as long as they maintain all four wheels inside the white lines that define the edge of the race track at all times.

6-10 Yielding Position 

6-10.1 If a driver for whatever reason needs to yield a position they should make sure it is safe to do so, unsafely giving away the position may result in penalty. 

6-11 Lapped Cars 

6-11.1 As soon as a driver is caught by another to lap them, they must allow the faster driver through at the earliest opportunity. They have the current and the entirety of the next sector to do that.
6-11.2 Any driver deemed to have attempted to block or deliberately hinder the faster car will be severely penalised.
6-11.3 Lapped drivers can unlap themselves if their pace allows, however if they pass and cannot create a gap they are REQUIRED to let lapping driver back through and stay behind

6-12 Safety Car (SC) / Virtual Safety Car 

6-12.1 Drivers must do their best to remain as close to the delta as possible. Unless issues, at no time should a driver be more than 2 seconds under the delta.
6-12.2 Drivers must drive safely under SC/VSC in order to avoid any contact. Sudden change of directions or/and heavy braking may be penalised.
6-12.3 Under Safety Car conditions, drivers must remain within a 3 second delta to the car in front. This applies to both the time spent ‘queuing’ behind the Safety Car and immediately before the conclusion of the Safety Car period when the race leader assumes the role of the Safety Car until they have crossed the start/finish line.
6-12.4 When the Safety Car is about to come in, the leader may dictate the pace and fall back more than 10 car-lengths behind it. The pace of the leader must remain constant.
6-12.5 Until the restart (i.e. when the leader has got up to speed), drivers are not allowed to go alongside one another.
6-12.6 When the Safety Car period ends, overtaking before the start/finish line is prohibited even if the car ahead of you is a ghost car driven by the AI, or a car that is lapped.
6-12.7 Drivers overtaking under safety car conditions will be penalised +5 seconds per every car they overtake, should someone be reported for this but dnf from the race they will receive 2pp on their virtual license. Mass amounts of overtaking under safety car conditions may result in DSQ and league review.
6-12.8 Deliberately driving slowly with the intention of keeping the safety car out for an extra lap(s) whilst catching up to the pack behind safety car is penalisable (Stewards discretion).
6-12.9 If we experience a major glitch with the safety car, we reserve the right to disable this feature with immediate effect if deemed appropriate.
6-12.10 Deliberately backing up the pack is prohibited in COS. Please refer to 6.2.4 for clarification for this.

6-13 In-Game Penalties 

6-13.1 If you feel that the game has awarded you an unfair warning/penalty, you can apply for its removal by reporting an incident. It is mandatory to provide your lap-by-lap race director in order to do this. Without this, such incidents will not be reviewed. You must also add video evidence of each of the warnings/penalties you received during the race should you want any of them removed. These must match up with your lap-by-lap race director.
6-13.2 An overly harsh in-game penalty may be replaced to a warning by the stewards if video footage and race director are provided.
6-13.3 Penalties served in the pits will NOT be removed, however in game penalties not served are potentially removable circumstance dependant.

6-14 Race Bans

6-14.1 Should a driver be awarded a race ban, they are no longer required to notify of their attendance for the ban in question. The ban is absolute as published in post incidents/appeals. Notification of the ban and the serving of it in and of itself is enough.