The white line is in; the kerb beyond it is out.

The 2026 FIA Formula One World Championship

This page applies only to the 2026 FIA Formula One World Championship, governed internationally by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. The controlling championship text is the 2026 FIA Formula 1 Regulations, Section B: Sporting Regulations, Issue 08, dated 5 August 2026, especially Articles B1.8.6 and B1.9.3-B1.9.5.

Section A Issue 03, Article A9.1.1, makes the 2026 F1 Regulations effective from 1 January 2026 for the 2026 calendar year. Issue 08 supersedes the Issue 07 document previously cited on this page. Formula 2, Formula 3, Formula E, endurance racing and national series have their own regulations and event instructions.

Binding rules and stewarding guidance are not the same

Sporting Article B1.8.6 and the FIA International Sporting Code (ISC), Appendix L Chapter IV Article 2(c), contain the binding track-limit rule. ISC Article 12.4.1(e) authorises deletion of practice, qualifying and race lap times.

The 2026 Formula 1 Driving Standards Guidelines v01 and 2026 Formula 1 Penalty Guidelines v01 explain the expected deletion, strike and penalty process. The FIA expressly labels those documents as guidelines with no regulatory value. Stewards rule under the regulations, using the guidance and the facts of the Competition.

“Four wheels off” is shorthand, not the rule's wording

The legal test is whether no part of the F1 car remains in contact with the track. A tyre that still touches the outside edge of the boundary line keeps the car on track. If the tyres touch only painted runoff or a kerb beyond the defining line, the car is out; the colour or grip of that outside surface does not extend the track.

A kerb is not automatically outside. Appendix L Article 2(c) says the part of a kerb contained between the white boundary lines is track. The practical task is therefore to identify the actual defining line at that location, not to treat every painted kerb as one legal category.

A marginal television frame is not the official ruling

The 2026 Driving Standards Guidelines instruct stewards to satisfy themselves that an infringement is clear and to give the driver the benefit of the doubt when it is not. Camera angle, an obscured tyre and the geometry of the line can make one broadcast image misleading.

Timing detection can identify a possible breach, but the official deleted-lap notice, stewarding decision and final classification establish the result. If a deletion is later corrected or a suspected infringement is excluded, the published record—not a provisional on-screen graphic—should be used.

The normal 2026 sequence

1. First ordinary offence: invalid lap time deleted and one strike recorded.
2. Second ordinary offence: another deletion and second strike.
3. Third ordinary offence: deletion and a black-and-white flag under the Penalty Guidelines. The table adds no time penalty at this stage.
4. Fourth ordinary offence: deletion and a five-second penalty under the guideline.
5. Each additional ordinary offence: deletion and another five-second penalty under the guideline.

This is the guideline sequence for leaving without a justifiable reason. Article B1.9.5 supplies the stewards' formal penalty powers, while the decision for the particular Competition records what was actually imposed.

A warning is not always required before a penalty

Driving Standards section D says a strike remains at the stewards' sole discretion. It also allows a direct penalty where the departure was specific, intentional or unsportsmanlike. A serious lasting advantage or unsafe rejoin follows its own penalty route rather than waiting for the ordinary count.

Detection can also be delayed. At the 2026 Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, Car 12's fourth departure was identified after an earlier one had been detected late, so the black-and-white flag arrived only after the fourth. The stewards still imposed five seconds and expressly noted possible ambiguity in the guidelines. That published decision is why “no flag means no later penalty” is unsafe advice.

An overtake is not the only possible gain

The 2026 Penalty Guidelines define the relevant sporting advantage as time, position or maintenance of position gained relative to another competitor. A driver who cuts a corner while defending and stays ahead can therefore gain a lasting advantage even without completing an overtake.

The Driving Standards Guidelines say a defending driver who leaves and rejoins in the same position will generally be treated as having gained a lasting advantage and should generally concede it. Article B1.8.6 gives the Race Director absolute discretion to offer an opportunity to return the whole advantage. A driver has no automatic right to erase every infringement by voluntarily returning one place.

Ordinary track limits, advantage and safety must not be merged

• Ordinary race track limit: normally the progressive strike process.
• Lasting advantage: the Penalty Guidelines list a ten-second Sprint/Race baseline, reducible to five seconds for mitigation and extendable up to a drive-through.
• Unsafe rejoin: the guideline range for a Sprint/Race starts at five seconds and extends to a drive-through.
• Another penalised incident: the excursion normally does not also count as an ordinary strike, but the other offence remains live.

Those tariffs are guidance, not mandatory penalties. Articles B1.9.3-B1.9.5 and the ISC give the stewards the actual adjudication and sanction powers.

Four applications of the rule

1. Tyre still overlaps the line: all four tyres are mainly beyond the edge, but one tyre still contacts the defining white line. The car has not left under B1.8.6. The decisive fact is contact with track, not how much tyre lies outside.
2. Qualifying exit onto the kerb: no part remains on or inside the line and the car touches only the outer kerb. The lap is deleted. If the route could improve tyre temperature, speed or position for the next lap, that following time can also be deleted under Driving Standards section D.
3. Race avoidance: a driver crosses fully beyond the line to avoid two cars colliding ahead, returns safely and gains no advantage. Collision avoidance is an express exception to the ordinary strike process. The official notice determines whether any lap-time deletion is recorded.
4. Fourth ordinary race departure: a driver has three counted, unjustified departures and then runs fully outside again without another incident. The Penalty Guidelines prescribe another deletion and five seconds. The decisive fact is that none of the six exceptions removes the fourth event from the count.

These are hypotheticals under the named 2026 texts, not official casebook rulings or reconstructions of real Grands Prix.

One corner can invalidate the following lap

Race Director's Competition Notes can identify a corner where an excursion affects more than the current lap. Item 27 of the 2026 British Grand Prix notes required every track-limit failure at Turn 18 to invalidate both that lap and the immediately following lap.

That Silverstone instruction is not a universal Formula 1 rule for every corner. At another Competition, use the current version of that event's Race Director notes and any later amendment, then check the stewards' deleted-lap document. A previous year's note does not control the current event.

Claims the 2026 sources do not support

• “The kerb is part of the track.” Only a kerb portion contained between the defining white lines counts; an outer kerb does not extend the boundary.
• “Every off-track moment is a strike.” The Driving Standards Guidelines contain six exceptions and preserve steward discretion.
• “Every qualifying deletion also deletes the next lap.” The next time is deleted only where a benefit could carry over, or where an event instruction expressly requires it.
• “The fourth excursion is always five seconds.” It must be the fourth counted ordinary offence; a justified or separately penalised incident may not join the count.
• “No black-and-white flag means no penalty.” Delayed detection and direct penalties can break that visible sequence.
• “A deleted lap time is the same as a time penalty.” Deletion removes a timing result; a five- or ten-second sanction is separately imposed.

Record a disputed call in this order

1. Competition, session, corner and lap.
2. The defining white line and whether any part of the car still contacted track.
3. Any collision avoidance, loss of control, forced-off finding or other incident.
4. The driver's existing counted strikes, not merely every off-track image.
5. Any event-specific next-lap or rejoin instruction.
6. The official deletion notice, black-and-white flag message, stewards' decision and final classification.