Engines

An 'engine freeze' has been instigated which means that the engines used during the last two races of the 2006 season must be used until the 2010 season, although some limited development work will be permitted.

Friday practice sessions will be exempt from the two-race engine rule, so any driver starting a weekend with a fresh engine won't be penalised for an earlier failure. It also allows drivers to save their race engines for Saturday and Sunday, while using alternative mills on Fridays.

Friday practice

The two practice sessions on Friday are now 90 minutes each, instead of the previous hour duration.

Teams will no longer have third cars, but one extra driver per team can run in each Friday stint. This third driver can use either of the squad's race cars.

Tyres

Bridgestone has become Formula 1's sole tyre supplier so each team gets only two specifications of tyre per weekend. The number of sets is increased to four per driver on Friday and 10 for the rest of the event. During the race every driver must use both specifications.

Safety car

No driver can enter the pits until all cars are bunched up behind the safety car. Before the safety car returns to the pits, any lapped cars running with those on the lead lap must overtake the leading cars and the safety vehicle to take up their position at the back of the field.

The reasons for these changes: to stop drivers going into the pits as soon as the safety car emerges, and prevent backmarkers interfering with race leaders during restarts.

Safety

A new GPS-based marshalling system will ensure that each driver's car has a light display of flag signals in his cockpit.