page_title: 2013 Formula One World Championship
section_title: Technical regulations
hierarchical_section_title: 2013 Formula One World Championship / Changes / Rule changes / Technical regulations
context_page_description: The 2013 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 67th season of the FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 64th FIA Formula One World Championship which was open to Formula One cars, recognised by the sport's governing body, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, as the highest class of competition for open-wheel racing cars. Eleven teams and twenty-three drivers contested the nineteen Grands Prix that made up the calendar for the 2013 season, with the winning driver being crowned the World Drivers' Champion and the winning team the World Constructors' Champions. The season started in Australia on 17 March 2013 and ended in Brazil on 24 November 2013.
  The 2013 season was the final year the series used the 2.4-litre V8 engine configuration which was introduced in 2006; a 1.6-litre turbocharged V6 engine formula came into force for 2014.
  Sebastian Vettel successfully defended his World Championship, winning his fourth consecutive title in the fourth to last race of 2013. In doing so he became the third driver in Formula One's sixty-four years to win four consecutive World Drivers' Championships.
context_section_description: Changes to the rules in 2012 resulted in the development of a "platypus" nose, with teams designing cars with a visible change in height along the nose assembly of the car. The design attracted criticism, with Red Bull Racing driver Mark Webber labelling the cars "ugly" and Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali calling them "not that pretty". At the 2012 Australian Grand Prix, Charlie Whiting, the FIA technical delegate, announced that although the changes to the sporting regulations planned for the 2014 season would effectively remove the "platypus" effect, the sport's governing body is planning to phase the stepped nose out for 2013. The FIA later accepted a proposal that would allow teams to cover up the stepped nose with a "modesty plate", a panel designed to obscure the step without fundamentally altering the aerodynamic profile of the car or offering any aerodynamic gain itself.
  The FIA completely overhauled testing procedures for front wings in 2013, introducing a more-comprehensive and strenuous series of tests designed to root out the practice of exploiting flexible bodywork regulations. Front wings in particular are subjected to revised parameters, with a tolerance of just 10 mm (0.39 in) permitted when the wing is subjected to a load of 100 kg (220 lb).
  The "double-DRS" system, first developed by Mercedes for the W03 in 2012 is banned in 2013. The device, which used a series of channels that ran through the car to create a stalling effect over the front wing when the rear wing Drag Reduction System was open, thereby cancelling out the downforce generated under normal conditions, would allow the car to achieve a higher top speed and better stability in fast corners. The system was the subject of several legal challenges early in the 2012 season, and rival team Lotus developed a similar system of their own before teams agreed to a ban in July 2012. However, while the regulations specifically banned the system developed by Mercedes, they make no provision for the variant developed by Lotus.
  The minimum weight of cars increased to 642 kg (1,415 lb) so as to account for the weight difference between the 2012 and 2013 specification of tyres.
caption: Artist's rendition of a stepped nose with a "modesty panel" (in red)