Formula 1, like any global sport with millions of fans and thousands of people involved, runs on a tight rulebook. From aerodynamics and minimum weight to power unit limits, pit lane speed, tyre regulations, cost caps and a hundred other details—nothing is left to chance. It’s what keeps the playing field level and the racing safe, fast and fair.
For a sport with such a massive following, it’s natural that not everyone knows every single detail of the rulebook. Few watch every race without fail. Many fans connect with their passion in other ways, such as watching F1-themed films or playing video games. You can also play F1-themed slots online. These are available, for example, at many Apple Pay withdrawal casinos, which allow top-ups and payouts via mobile systems and e-wallets, as well as more traditional bank cards.
Of course, casual fans know the basics of racing. But some rules, especially the rarely applied ones, slip past many. Take the 107% rule, for example. It has been around for three decades, yet most F1 followers have never even heard of it. However, when you do encounter it, it can catch you off guard. Let’s break down what this rule is and whether it still matters today.
What is the 107% Rule?
Formula One’s 107% rule determines whether a driver can start a Sunday race. During the first qualifying session, if a driver gets eliminated while failing to record a lap time within 107% of the session’s fastest lap time, they will have to argue their case to the race stewards to get on the starting grid. A simple example is if the fastest lap time in Q1 was 100 seconds, a driver would need to set a lap under 107 seconds in order to start the race.
The rule was introduced for the 1996 season at the Australian Grand Prix, and two drivers immediately fell foul of it. The 107% rule was designed to weed out slower, non-competitive cars from entering races.
Until then, cars could enter as long as there were spaces on the grid, regardless of the speed. Speed matters, though, as super slow cars have the potential to cause dangerous situations, especially when being lapped often.
Exception to the Rule
A driver who doesn’t meet the 107% rule could still be allowed to start, as long as their practice times were provably competitive. Drivers may also get a pass if they prove there was a mechanical problem that prevented them from recording a suitable qualifying time.
The above 107% Rule applies to dry tracks, and if the race director declares the track wet, the regulation is backed off, because enforcing strict times in variable conditions pushes the line on safety.
Is It Still Enforced?
The 107% rule was removed from Formula One between 2003 and 2010 due to changes in qualifying formats, and then reintroduced in 2011. But is it still relevant? It’s subjective because it’s so very rarely enforced. The last time it was brought up was in the 2023 season when Logan Sargeant and Nyck de Vries finished outside of the qualifying sessions of the Saudi Arabian GP and Azerbaijan GP, respectively, but they were still allowed to race because of good practice session times.
The most recent time that a driver was prevented from taking a place on the grid because of the 107% rule was way back at the 2012 Australian Grand Prix, when HRT drivers Pedro de la Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan couldn’t set a fast enough qualifying time, and were deemed too slow to race.
Is the 107% Rule Still Relevant?
The rule is almost redundant, as the times it has been brought up in the last twenty years, it’s been waived to allow drivers to race anyway. Its presence could also technically punish a driver who has an off-day in Q1, even though their car was more than capable of a strong pace. It could also be argued that it’s an extra barrier for new teams entering, in that they immediately have to get within the time to race.
But the truth is, modern F1 fields are competitively tight. At the 2025 Hungarian Grand Prix, for example, there was roughly just a two-second gap between the fastest lap time set by George Russell and that of the slowest fastest lap by Oliver Bearman. Mechanical problems aside, this relatively small gap from a time perspective is common across F1 now.
The Q1 times for this 2025 British Grand Prix, for example, had around just a two-second difference from quickest to slowest. So the 107% rule has become less relevant due to the modern technical framework that F1 runs on. It’s still around simply because it is a failsafe, and as it rarely bothers anyone, it will probably just continue to be part of the rules.