History of Formula One regulations

However, with the advent of a new breed of innovative and forward thinking designers like Colin Chapman[12] and the beginnings of drivers lobbying for safer racing conditions,[13] the number of rule changes made began to accelerate as the decade came to a close.

[17] After the needless and avoidable death of Ronnie Peterson[18] at the Italian Grand Prix in 1978, the sport finally made the wholesale changes needed to bring it up towards the modern standards of safety which it enjoys today.

[20] With the raft of safety improvements as a result of Peterson's fatal crash being implemented during the late 70s and early 80s Formula One overall became much safer despite the deaths of Patrick Depailler in 1980 and Gilles Villeneuve & Riccardo Paletti in 1982.

[19] The huge amounts of downforce created by ground effect became increasingly dangerous as years went on, and aside from the fatal accidents mentioned above, a number of drivers crashed heavily enough for their careers to be brought to an end, and the technology was banned outright at the start of the 1983 season.

These safety changes coupled with the much stronger carbon fibre replacing aluminium as the material of choice for chassis construction meant there was not a single driver fatality at a race meeting for the rest of the decade.

[24] The strength of the carbon fibre chassis being used and the fortunate escapes of many drivers involved in high speed accidents during this period made many people inside the sport believe that death was a thing of the past in Formula One.

[19] This attitude was made to look foolish when the FIA hastily banned virtually all of the performance enhancing electronic technology that the teams had become dependent on for the start of the 1994 season.

This was climaxed by the catastrophic 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, with Brazilian Rubens Barrichello being severely injured during a heavy crash in a Friday practice session.

This set the stage for the disastrous events of the rest of the weekend, which led to the deaths of Austrian driver Roland Ratzenberger and Senna himself; all three accidents on consecutive days.

By the close of the decade a measure of the impact on the sport that the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix has had was that for the first time in its history, safety had become Formula One's number one concern.

Most of the changes that the FIA have implemented to the regulations in the nine seasons since the year 2000 have been aimed at trimming speed off the cars and, later in the decade, at reducing the costs involved in Formula One.

[51] The gravity of the situation was realised when Honda suddenly withdrew its participation at the end of the 2008 season, later confirming to have sold the team, specifically blaming the world economic crisis.

With cost escalation now largely under control thanks to recently implemented budget caps[citation needed] and safety standards at an all-time high, the sport's focus for the new decade is around continuing to improve the race spectacle.