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Formula 1 · FIA 2026

A protest challenges a rules issue; an appeal challenges an appealable decision.

Published

Those are different procedures. A petition for review is a third route: it asks the stewards to revisit their own decision because a significant, relevant new element was unavailable when they decided it. None of the three is a general right to demand that an incident be judged again.

Quick ruling: under the FIA rules in force for the 2026 Formula One World Championship, only a Competitor may protest, and a protest against a stewards' decision is inadmissible. An eligible party may appeal a final decision only if it is appealable. If genuinely new, significant and relevant material emerges, a concerned or directly affected party—or the FIA—may petition the stewards for review within the Code's short deadline.
Choose the right route Check appeal limits
Scope

The exact 2026 rules used here

This page is limited to the FIA Formula One World Championship. It applies the FIA Formula 1 General Regulatory Provisions, Issue 03 dated 25 June 2026; Formula 1 Sporting Regulations, Issue 08 dated 5 August 2026; the FIA International Sporting Code (ISC) effective 26 June 2026; and the FIA Judicial and Disciplinary Rules effective 1 January 2026.

National motorsport, international series and other FIA championships may use a national appeal court, different deposits or supplementary deadlines. The Formula 1 rules and the Supplementary Regulations for the appointed Grand Prix must therefore be checked before using this procedure elsewhere.

Three routes

Issue, decision or new element?

  • Protest: a Competitor challenges one of the subjects listed in ISC Article 13.2.1, such as alleged car non-compliance, an alleged breach during the Competition or the Provisional Classification.
  • Appeal: an eligible person or organisation asks the FIA International Court of Appeal (ICA) to decide whether an appealable final decision should stand.
  • Right of Review: the stewards first decide whether a significant and relevant new element was genuinely unavailable at the required time. Only then do they re-examine the decision.
  • Clerical correction: under ISC Article 11.7.5, the stewards may correct a writing error without changing the decision's meaning. That does not restart the appeal clock.
Stewards

What a stewards' decision means

The race director may report an incident, but the stewards decide whether to investigate and whether a driver should be penalised. They may also note and investigate an incident themselves.

Jurisdiction

They determine regulatory cases

ISC Articles 11.7.1 and 11.7.3 give the appointed stewards authority to settle matters within their appointment, investigate alleged breaches, impose available sanctions and amend classifications. Some later or wider matters may be delegated to another panel or referred to the FIA International Tribunal.

ISC 11.7Authority
Evidence

The test is not viewer certainty

Under ISC Article 11.7.3, the stewards must be comfortably satisfied that a breach occurred, taking account of the allegation's seriousness. The Code places this above a mere balance of probability but below proof beyond reasonable doubt. They may use video or electronic systems.

Comfortable satisfactionProof
Driving incidents

Fault has an F1-specific test

For an Incident involving drivers, Sporting Regulation B1.9.3 says no penalty is imposed unless it is clear to the stewards that a driver was wholly or predominantly to blame. That rule does not replace the separate technical-compliance test.

F1 B1.9.3Blame
Procedure

Evidence, hearing and publication are separate stages

Every penalty must follow consideration of the available evidence. For Disqualification, Suspension, Exclusion or a Ban, ISC Article 12.4.4 also requires the concerned party to be summoned so it can present its defence. The Code does not require an oral hearing before every ordinary incident penalty.

F1 Sporting Regulation B1.1.2 requires classifications, results and official decisions to be published through the Document Management System. The official decision and its publication time control procedural deadlines—not a broadcast caption, team-radio comment or social-media post.

Classification

The chequered-flag order is not yet final

Sporting Regulations B2.3.5c and B2.5.5c make the published Provisional Classification after a Sprint or Race the only valid result, subject to amendments under the ISC and the FIA F1 Regulations. Post-race scrutineering, steward penalties, a successful protest, review or appeal can therefore change it.

The stewards have power under ISC Article 11.7.3s to declare classifications and results final. “First across the line,” “Provisional Classification” and “final result” describe different stages.

Protests

What an F1 Competitor may protest

ISC Article 13.1 gives the right to protest only to a Competitor. In Formula 1 that is the entered team; a driver, fan, broadcaster or rival manufacturer acting outside an Entry cannot lodge an Article 13 protest.

During the Competition

An alleged error, irregularity or breach

Article 13.2.1 permits a protest about an alleged error, irregularity or regulatory breach occurring during the Competition. The protest must identify the relevant regulations, the concern and the opposing party where relevant.

ISC 13.2.1Sporting
Technical

Alleged car non-compliance

A Competitor may protest another Automobile's alleged non-compliance. If clearly identified parts must be dismantled and reassembled, the stewards may set an additional deposit for the estimated checks under Article 13.4.3.

Extra costs possibleCar legality
Result

The Provisional Classification

The Provisional Classification at the end of the Competition is expressly protestable. The filing does not itself prove that the classification is wrong; the stewards hear the parties and decide the protest.

ISC 13.2.1Classification
Form and cost

A valid protest is written, specific and paid

ISC Articles 13.4 and 13.5 require the protest to specify the relevant regulation, the concern and the target where relevant, and to be delivered to the proper official. A separate protest is required for each Competitor, each Automobile of the same Competitor and each protest subject.

For Formula 1, General Provision A7.6 sets the protest deposit at €20,000, plus any dismantling deposit ordered under ISC Article 13.4.3. The normal rule is that the basic deposit is returned only when the protest is upheld, unless fairness requires otherwise; inspection costs are allocated under Article 13.4.3 according to the outcome.

Deadline

Thirty minutes is common, not universal

Under ISC Articles 13.3.5 to 13.3.7, a protest concerning a Competition breach, alleged car non-compliance or the Provisional Classification is normally due no later than 30 minutes after publication of the Provisional Classification.

The Code allows a different result where the stewards consider compliance impossible, the notice board has a technical problem, or the applicable sporting or Supplementary Regulations specify otherwise. Other protest subjects have other clocks: for example, an Entry protest is due no later than two hours after pre-event scrutineering closes.

Inadmissible protest

A team cannot protest a stewards' decision

ISC Article 13.7.7 is explicit: a protest against a stewards' decision is inadmissible. Nor can one protest bundle several Competitors, cars or Article 13.2.1 subjects. The correct next question is whether the decision is appealable or whether Article 14's new-element test for review can be met.

Judge of fact: a judge of fact's recorded finding is not itself open to protest under ISC Article 13.7.1. The 2026 Code also says the stewards may accept or refuse a correction proposed by a judge of fact and may overrule a judge of fact. “Final” in this context therefore does not remove the stewards' supervisory power.
Appeals

When a stewards' decision can go to the ICA

For an FIA Championship such as Formula 1, ISC Article 15.1.5 and the 2026 Judicial and Disciplinary Rules place an appeal against an appealable stewards' decision before the FIA International Court of Appeal.

Standing

The appellant needs a real legal interest

Judicial and Disciplinary Rule 13.1.1 allows an organiser, Competitor, driver or other licence-holder to appeal when it is the addressee of the decision or has a personal, direct, existing and current legal interest. Disagreement as a spectator is not standing.

JDR 13.1.1Eligibility
First clock

Intent is normally due within one hour

Written intention to appeal must normally reach the stewards within one hour after the decision is published. For specified later decisions, or where the stewards consider one hour impossible, their written decision may set a different limit of no more than 24 hours.

JDR 14.1.1Notice
Second clock

The appeal follows within 96 hours

Under Judicial and Disciplinary Rule 14.5.1a, the appeal must then be notified to the FIA General Secretariat of the Courts within 96 hours of notifying the stewards of the intention, with the required decision, grounds and proof of payment.

Receipt controlsFiling
Non-appealable

Most ordinary F1 incident penalties cannot be appealed

Sporting Regulation B1.9.7 bars an appeal against penalties under B1.9.5a–h. That includes a five-second penalty, ten-second penalty, drive-through, stop-and-go, another time penalty, a driver reprimand, a team reprimand and a drop of grid positions. The bar also covers those penalties when imposed in the final three laps or after a Sprint or Race.

B1.9.7 also bars appeals against lap-time deletion or grid drops under B1.9.4, power-unit grid drops under B8.2, specified grid-formation decisions and several other named start or eligibility decisions. ISC Article 12.3.4 independently makes drive-through and stop-and-go decisions non-appealable, while General Provision A7.5.6 excludes procedural and interim decisions.

Important distinction: “non-appealable” does not make an Article 13 protest against the decision valid. A petition for review remains a separate possibility only if the strict Article 14 new-element test is satisfied.
Effect and remedy

An appeal does not always pause the sanction

General Provision A7.5.5 normally suspends the challenged sanction while an appeal is pending, but not if the ICA orders otherwise or the decision is immediately binding under ISC Article 12.3.3. Non-appealable decisions are immediately binding.

Under Judicial and Disciplinary Rule 14.12, the ICA may uphold or dismiss an appeal in whole or part, confirm, waive or reduce a penalty, and in some circumstances increase it. It may annul or amend Competition results, but it cannot order a Competition to be re-run.

Fees

The 2026 documents contain a fee-table mismatch

Formula 1 General Provision A7.5.4 is championship-specific: it states a non-refundable €5,000 fee and €20,000 deposit for an F1 Team, power-unit manufacturer or driver, and €1,000 plus €6,000 for other individuals. The 2026 Judicial and Disciplinary Rules' general ICA table instead groups charges by organisations and natural persons. A7.5.4 also cites JDR Articles 10.1.2 and 11.2, although the published 2026 JDR places ICA payment rules in Article 14.1.2 and deposit-return rules in Article 15.2.3.

This page follows the F1-specific A7.5.4 wording for an F1 appeal, but the appellant should confirm the amount and current filing instructions with the FIA General Secretariat of the Courts. Missing payment or filing requirements can make an appeal inadmissible.

Right of Review

Four tests must be met before the merits reopen

  1. New: the element cannot merely repeat material already considered.
  2. Significant: it must be capable of mattering to the decision.
  3. Relevant: it must bear on the issue the stewards decided.
  4. Previously unavailable: after a hearing, it must have been unavailable to both the requesting party and the stewards; without a hearing, unavailable to the stewards when they decided.

Under ISC Article 14.3, the stewards have sole discretion over whether this threshold element exists, and that admissibility decision cannot itself be appealed.

Who, when and effect

Review returns to the stewards

A concerned or directly affected party, or the FIA, may petition under ISC Article 14.1.1. For Formula 1, the stewards may also act on their own initiative if they discover the required element. The petition is decision-specific, written and accompanied by the €20,000 deposit set by General Provision A7.7; no deposit is due when the stewards act on their own initiative.

The normal deadline is 96 hours after the end of the Competition, extendable by at most 24 hours where the stewards consider compliance impossible. A Championship review also cannot be brought within four calendar days of the relevant FIA prize-giving. Review has no suspensive effect: the original decision continues to operate while the petition is considered.

Decision path

How to classify a post-session challenge

  1. Identify the document. Is the team challenging an alleged rules issue, the Provisional Classification, or an actual stewards' decision?
  2. If it is an issue, check Article 13.2.1. Only an entered Competitor can protest, and it must use the correct subject, target, form, deposit and deadline.
  3. If it is a decision, check appealability first. Read F1 Sporting Regulation B1.9.7, ISC Article 12.3.4 and General Provision A7.5.6 before preparing an appeal.
  4. Check standing. The appellant must be an addressee or have the required personal, direct, existing and current legal interest.
  5. Protect both appeal clocks. Normally: written intention within one hour, then notification of the appeal to the FIA court secretariat within 96 hours.
  6. If relying on new material, apply all four review tests. “We interpret the same footage differently” is not enough.
  7. Keep the existing decision in force unless the rules suspend it. A review never does so automatically; an appeal may, subject to the exceptions.
Worked cases

How the routes work in realistic F1 situations

These are hypothetical applications of the named 2026 rules, not reports of real races or official casebook decisions.

Case 1 · Time penalty

A driver receives five seconds after the Race

Ruling: B1.9.7a makes that penalty non-appealable, including when imposed after the session. Article 13.7.7 prevents a protest against the decision. Review is possible only if an Article 14-compliant new element exists; it is not a route to reargue the same onboard video.

FIA F1 2026No ordinary appeal
Case 2 · Rival car

A team alleges another car is underweight

Ruling: the entered team may lodge a technical protest within the applicable Article 13.3 deadline, pay €20,000 and identify the car and technical rule. A further inspection deposit may be ordered. Under ISC Article 1.3.3, absence of performance advantage is not a defence to proven non-compliance.

FIA ISC 2026Technical protest
Case 3 · New data

Previously unavailable timing data changes a fact

Ruling: the directly affected party may petition the stewards for review within 96 hours after the Competition ends. The stewards first decide whether the authenticated data is new, significant, relevant and previously unavailable. Filing does not suspend the original decision.

ISC 14Threshold first
Case 4 · Disqualification

A car is disqualified after scrutineering

Ruling: the concerned party must have been summoned to present its defence before Disqualification. Unlike the ordinary B1.9.5a–h penalties, Disqualification under B1.9.5i is not included in that particular appeal bar; appealability, standing, notice, filing and payment must still be checked against all applicable provisions.

ISC 12.4.4Potential appeal
Common mistakes

Claims that are too broad

  • “The team appealed the penalty.” First verify the document: it may be a protest, review petition or only notice of intention to appeal.
  • “Every steward decision can be appealed.” B1.9.7 excludes many of the penalties fans see most often.
  • “A review is an appeal with new wording.” Review returns to the stewards and first requires qualifying new material.
  • “The television order is official.” The published Provisional Classification is the valid result, still subject to authorised amendment.
  • “No advantage means the car is legal.” ISC Article 1.3.3 rejects that defence once technical non-compliance is established.
  • “The driver personally protests.” Article 13 gives that right only to the Competitor.
Event boundary

The 2026 texts define the Competition's end differently

ISC Article 2.1.7 generally uses the later of the protest/appeal time or end of hearings and post-event scrutineering. Formula 1 Sporting Regulation B1.1.1 instead says an F1 Competition ends at the later of the protest-lodging time or technical/sporting certification.

For Formula 1 procedure, this page follows the championship-specific B1.1.1 event boundary. That does not make the first classification immutable: B2.3.5c and B2.5.5c expressly leave the Sprint and Race classifications subject to amendments under the ISC and the FIA F1 Regulations.

Official references

Governing-body sources and effective versions

Checked on 26 August 2026 against the FIA's then-current published Formula 1 and International Sporting Code documents. Grand Prix Supplementary Regulations may alter a deadline where the ISC permits; the fee-table and Competition-end wording differences identified above remain visible in the controlling 2026 texts.