FIA DRIVER CATEGORISATION REGULATIONS
1 GENERAL PRINCIPLES
The FIA Driver Categorisations are determined by the decisions taken by the FIA Driver Categorisation
Committee members. The Committee consists of representatives of the main series that use the
Categorisations, who are advised by members of the FIA Drivers’ Commission and assisted by the FIA
Administration.
The FIA Driver Categorisation is the basis for all FIA Championships that use a driver categorisation
system, and can be adopted by any series. A national series may use the FIA Driver Categorisation
system.
1.1 The “bronze”, “silver”, “gold” and “platinum” designations are “FIA copyright”. If a
championship does not use the FIA Driver Categorisation, it cannot use these designations to
describe the categorisation of drivers.
1.2 Any series that will be using the FIA Driver Categorisation must include in its regulations a
provision specifying that it will refer to this categorisation system.
1.3 All International series shall declare their use of the FIA Driver Categorisation system when
registering their Series with the FIA. They must declare the name and contact details of their
Timekeepers and authorise the FIA to obtain any data required for analysis.
1.4 The car manufacturer or brand may be required to supply a provisional list of contracted drivers
(including customer teams that use a model produced by the car manufacturer or brand) by 15
September of any given calendar year and a final list by 31 December at the latest.
1.5 Any other series shall make an official statement to the FIA Driver Categorisation Committee to
confirm that they will be using the FIA Driver Categorisation system. They should provide the
contact information of a person who will be able to provide good advice about the series, the
races and the drivers taking part. The contact details of this person should be sent by email to
[email protected].
1.6 All series using this system will be requested to submit standardised data after each race and
download it to the platform FIA Box, accessible via the FIA website. For credentials please
contact the FIA administration at the email address [email protected].
1.7 If a series uses the FIA system it may not use a second categorisation system, except as described
in 1.12 below.
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1.8 The initial categorisation is based on the driver’s age and career record, which may be adjusted
in subsequent seasons according to the recorded race pace and results of the series that are
using the categorisation system.
1.9 No driver may be categorised before he or she reaches his or her sixteenth birthday. Any
requests for categorisation received 3 months before a driver is aged 16 will be valid only from
his or her sixteenth birthday.
1.10 Any driver requesting a categorisation must specify in which series he or she plans to take part.
1.11 The list of competitors allowed to take part in any competition will indicate the category
attributed to each driver.
1.12 Any series may retain the right to adjust the categorisation to the specific nature of that series.
The conditions and regulations governing this should be specified in the sporting regulations of
the series in question.
1.13 Any driver who is given a temporary categorisation exemption will be indicated on the entry list
with an asterisk or other marking.
1.14 Drivers who have not been categorised will not be allowed to take part in any competition which
depends on driver categorisation, with the exception of temporary categorisations in
accordance with Article 5.
2 INITIAL CATEGORISATION REQUESTS
2.1 New requests can be made at any point in the year. ¶
2.2 Drivers wishing to compete in Competitions using the FIA categorisation system must complete
an online application, truthfully and comprehensively: https://driverscategorisation.fia.com.
2.3 The fees for initial categorisation, in the amount of €150, must be sent to the FIA administration.
The decision will be given within 15 days of the application being completed.
2.4 The fee for drivers requesting an emergency initial categorisation, and needing a reply within
seven days, will be €350.
2.5 Decisions by the FIA Categorisation Committee may be reviewed at the request of the driver
alone, using his or her unique (or “own”) email address, within seven days of the publication of
the Categorisation Committee’s decision, and at a cost of €250, backed up by all the necessary
proof and documents. Without proof (notably data-based analysis), the request will not be
examined.
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2.6 Only one request for review of the decision on categorisation will be accepted. Once the seven-
day period has passed, the categorisation cannot be reassessed except in accordance with
Article 3.
2.7 A review has no suspensive effect on the execution of the initial categorisation decision.
2.8 The decisions taken by the FIA Categorisation Committee following a review cannot be
appealed.
2.9 Exceptional cases will be handled by the Committee during the season, at the Committee’s sole
discretion.
2.10 All initial categorisations will be indicated on the public list and reassessed the following year.
3 ANNUAL REVISION OF CATEGORISATIONS
3.1 Drivers who are on the current categorisation list may request a revision at any point during the
season but by 31 August at the latest, for consideration for the following calendar year. ¶
3.2 The Organisers of any Series using the FIA Driver Categorisation system must submit a list of
drivers they wish to be considered for recategorisation along with all relevant data by 31 August.
It will be indicated on the public list that the categorisation of these drivers, including those who
have requested an annual revision or have reached the age of 55 or 60, is under review. In case
of a change in circumstances (such as winning a Championship, obtained new relevant data)
those drivers can be added to annual revision until 15 October.¶
3.3 Any recategorisation by the Committee on the basis of data received will be published by 20
October at the latest.
3.4 Drivers whose category has been changed or whose request for revision has not been accepted
may challenge this decision within seven days of the list’s publication on the FIA website, at a
cost of €250. Any such challenge must include new data or information in order to be
considered. No requests for review from any other driver will be accepted. Articles 2.7 and 2.8
will apply regarding the outcome of any such challenge.
3.5 Downgrades due to age (after 55 and 60 and 65 years of age) will be free of charge and no
request for revision needs to be entered for these cases. Nevertheless, a downgrade may be
overruled by the FIA Categorisation Committee at its sole discretion.
3.6 The FIA Driver Categorisation’s public list will be considered definitive on 1st November, except
for new categorisation requests and relevant cases outlined in Article 9. The categorisations on
this list will be final.¶
3.7 The dates stated in this article are given as a reference. Any changes or delays may be
communicated via a Bulletin. The Committee may review a limited number of cases, at its sole
discretion.
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4 ANNUAL REVISION OF CATEGORISATIONS FOR SERIES SPANNING ACROSS TWO YEARS
4.1 Any Championships or Series that use the Driver Categorisation system but have a season
spanning across two calendar years, or those that take place after the Annual Revision of
Categorisation Meeting, must specify in their sporting regulations how they will handle the
categorisation of their drivers.
5 TEMPORARY CATEGORISATIONS
5.1 The Panel of Stewards of any Series, or an equivalent body for National Series, may temporarily
categorise drivers in accordance with these Regulations up until the end of the administrative
checks. This temporary categorization must strictly follow the criterion set in these
regulations. For the avoidance of doubt, drivers who have not reached their 16th birthday may
not be categorized by the Stewards. A fee must be charged for this, the amount of which will
depend on the Series concerned but which should not be lower than the standard FIA
categorisation fee.
5.2 Any such temporary categorisations will not constitute an FIA categorisation. Temporarily
categorised drivers must undertake the steps described in Article 2 without delay and specify in
their request that they have been temporarily categorised.
5.3 The Organiser of each Series is requested to inform the Driver Categorisation Committee of any
such temporary categorisations by emailing [email protected].
6 DRIVER EVALUATION PROCEDURE
6.1 Drivers will be evaluated initially on their record of achievements (age + career record), then on
their overall performance during races (measured as per Article 6.4 and according to the criteria
listed under Article 8).
6.2 After a driver has received an initial categorisation, this may be adjusted according to their
monitored race pace after their first season in a monitored series, with the exception of drivers
under the age of 27 who will remain Silver as a minimum.
6.3 A driver aged 27 or older, having raced in any monitored series for a minimum of three
seasons with an average lap time consistently as slow as or slower than the average lap time of
drivers of a lower grade competing in the same event may be considered for a downgrade for
the following season. Only data from Series where the driver has competed in at least 75% of
the races of each season will be considered. The responsibility lies with the driver to provide
such data.
6.4 Average calculations are performed based on the lap times set by each driver during the races
which have taken place during a season. For races up to two hours, the ten fastest laps are used.
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For races over two hours in duration, it is recommended to use 20 laps, where possible. Irrelevant
laps will be discarded.
6.5 There may be a recategorisation of a driver if his or her time does not correspond to the
expected time range of his or her category. This recategorisation can only happen between
seasons, in accordance with Article 3.
7 DATA COLLECTION AND SUBMISSION
7.1 Each Series using the Categorisation system must provide the following information by the end
of the season. Tier 1, 2 and 3 Series (in accordance with Article 8) will be required to provide the
FIA with their season driver classifications following the last event of their season that is held by
the second weekend of October.
7.2 For each race, the Organisers, or their Timekeepers, are requested to fill in the appended FIA
timing submission template in accordance with Article 6.4. The class, car number, Team name
and car type should also be included. The document must include the Series Name, Race Name,
Circuit and Weather Conditions.
7.3 Organisers must also note any significant information related to the race (for example, a long
safety car period or serious weather problems, mainly in sprint races, which could affect the
calculations, or anything that changes the results, such as success ballast) and provide pdf
versions of the race and qualifying results.
7.4 Drivers submitting data for consideration by the Committee should present information in
manner complying with Article 7.2 and 7.3 as a minimum. The name of the applicant driver and
his or her categorisation should appear clearly, as well as those of competing drivers. Qualifying
and Free Practice (or private testing laps) will not be considered. The submission of compiled
standard timing analysis, displaying performance over the course of one or more seasons, is
strongly recommended. ¶
7.5 The information above must be supplied to the following email address :
[email protected].
¶8 DEFINITIONS OF THE CATEGORISATIONS
8.1 A driver’s initial categorisation is established primarily based on his or her record of
achievements (age and career record) as listed below.
8.2 PLATINUM
Definition:
- Current or past Super Licence holder, practice licences included
- Performances and achievements are at the Platinum driver level
- Professional driver
Career:
- Top 5 finisher of a Tier 1 Series, and/or
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- Comparable level of performance to Platinum drivers, and/or
- Any additional criteria deemed worthy of consideration by the Committee
8.3 GOLD
Definition:
- Main professional activity based around driving in motor sport
- Participation in high-level karting for three or more seasons
- Participation in significant single-seater competitions for more than two seasons with at least one
podium
- The driver’s motor sport career (karting or cars) began before the age of 20 with at least five full
seasons of results.
Career:
- Top 5 finisher of a Tier 2 Series
- Winner of a Tier 3 Series (overall or category in multi-class racing), and/or
- Comparable level of performance to Gold drivers, and/or
- Any additional criteria deemed worthy of consideration by the Committee
It is understood that for Tier 3 series, the level of the series (in accordance with article 10.13)
will be taken into account and only major or significant Tier 3 series will be taken into account.
8.4 SILVER
Definition:
- A driver under 30 even in their first year with a licence
- A driver under 30 with no significant single-seater or karting experience
- A driver deriving an income from motor sport related activities
- A driver over 30 who began their motor sport career in their 20s or earlier
Career:
- Comparable level of performance to Silver drivers, and/or
- Any further criteria deemed worthy of consideration by the Committee
8.5 BRONZE
Definition:
- A driver who obtained their first licence after the age of 30.
Career:
- Comparable level of performance to Bronze drivers, and/or
- Any further criteria deemed worthy of consideration by the Committee
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Tier 1 Tier 2 Tier 3
Including but not limited to: Including but not limited to: Including but not limited to:
- V8 Supercars - Porsche Supercup - Regional and National
- FIA Formula 2 and GP2 - NASCAR (Cup) Touring Car
- FIA International F3000 - International single- seater Championships
- Any FIA World series such as Formula - Porsche Carrera Cup
Championship Renault V6 (Regional and National)
- FIA WTCC, WTCR - Formula 3, GP3 and - Formula 4
- FIA Formula E (prior to equivalent series - Regional or national
accession to World - Any FIA World Cup, with LMP3 series
- Championship status) the exception of the FIA - Regional or national GT
- Indycar Nations Cup and the FIA Series
- Super Formula Motorsport Games - Nascar (Xfinity and
- DTM Trucks)
- Super Formula - FIA European Hill Climb
- Super GT Championship
- International and
European Karting
Championships
9 ONGOING CATEGORISATION
9.1 Continuing categorisation is determined through the assessment of his or her average times
during the races and also on his or her standing within the criteria listed below. The absence of
lap times (non-participation) does not demonstrate declining performance.
9.2 Drivers who have been categorised in accordance with Article 8 but who do not compete
regularly in a monitored series can be upgraded based on the initial categorisation criteria
should they compete in a Series listed in Tiers 1, 2 or 3, or equivalent Series or Championships.
9.3 Based on the analysis of data from the monitored series using the Driver Categorisation system,
drivers may be upgraded or downgraded., in addition to the below criteria being considered.
The criteria below may also be taken into account.
9.4 PLATINUM
The following career achievements of categorised drivers in monitored Series would result in an
upgrade to Platinum :
• Finishing on the podium in a Pro category in a major endurance race (24 Hours of Le Mans, 24
Hours of Daytona (DPi), 24 Hours of Spa, Nürburgring 24 Hours)
• Winning the FIA World Endurance Championship in the LMP1/Hybrid or Hypercar, or LM GTE
Pro categories
• Winning the IMSA Championship in the DPi category
• Winning the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe, Asia and America, ADAC GT Master and Pro
category in a major endurance race
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(non-exhaustive list)
9.5 GOLD
The following career achievements of categorised drivers in monitored Series would result in an
upgrade to Gold:
• Finishing in the top three in the Silver Cup in GTWC
• Achieving relevant race results in LMP2, LMP3, LMGTE Am (including ELMS) and GT3 (in the
Asian Le Mans Series and Le Mans Cup)
9.6 SILVER and BRONZE
Upgrades and downgrades between the Bronze and Silver categories will be primarily evaluated
on the basis of quantitative data supplied by the drivers and Organisers. Additionally, qualitative
data (i.e. career record in a non-monitored Series, achievement in other disciplines of motor
racing or professional sports, occupation of the driver) may be considered.
9.7 Exceptional cases in relation to Articles 9.4, 9.5 and 9.6 will be handled by the Committee.
10 CATEGORISATION GENERAL RULES
The following apply to all categories:
10.1 A driver’s categorisation will not be adjusted during the current season due to a change in
circumstances as listed in Article 8 and 9. This does not apply to nominations from
Manufacturers as works drivers (see Appendix 1) if such nomination would change the driver’s
categorisation. Corrections to a categorisation due to errors,and omissions(including those from
the Committee, at its sole discretion) or due to information allegedly being deliberately withheld
by the driver, its employer or those legally entitled to represent them, may take placebe carried
out at any time. A driver’s categorisation may be altered or withdrawn if false information has
been given to the Committee (who may request extra information from a driver at any time) or
if relevant information has been omitted from his or her initial request. This alteration or
withdrawal can be applied retroactively.
10.2 Silver drivers with no significant results will not be automatically downgraded to Bronze upon
reaching the age of 30. A request must be made in accordance with Article 3 above and will be
subject to the decision of the Committee.
10.3 Age downgrades are given compared to the potential highest categorisation a driver has or
would have held, based on his or her career as a whole. Furthermore, they remain subject to
approval from the Driver Categorisation Committee, who will provide on request a written
explanation in case of refusal.
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10.4 Except for the cases listed below, the driver categorisation of a driver over 55 will be reduced
by one grade for the season following his or her 55th birthday.From the Annual Revision period
of 2023 onwards, age downgrades will start after the age of 55.
10.5 Except for the cases listed below, the driver categorisation of a driver over 60 will be reduced by
an additional grade for the season following his or her 60th birthday.
10.6 Except for the cases listed below, a driver over 65 will be categorised Bronze for the season
following his or her 65th birthday.
10.7 Any driver who has been downgraded in the 3-year period before his or her 55th, 60th or 65th
birthday will not be downgraded again on reaching that birthday.
10.8 A driver will not be downgraded for any reason (including age) at the end of a year in which he
or she has won a category of a series or championship listed in the definitions in sections 8 and
9 above.
10.9 A driver aged between 30 and 40 who has been out of racing for at least ten years (no more than
one race / race meeting per year) may, subject to the approval of the Committee, return to
racing one grade lower than the grade indicated by his or her career record, to be reviewed after
one year in accordance with Article 10.14 below.
10.10 A driver aged over 40 who has been out of racing for at least five years (no more than one race
/ race meeting per year) may, subject to the approval of the Committee, return to racing one
grade lower than the grade indicated by his or her career record, to be reviewed after one year
in accordance with Article 10.14 below.
10.11 It is not possible to cumulate downgrades of categories due to age and due to absence from
racing for at least five years (e.g. a driver aged 55 who has been away for more than 5 years will
go down only one grade).
10.12 Results from series or races contested over 10 years ago, combined with recent proof of lap
times, may be excluded from examination on decision of the Committee.
10.13 The Committee may decide to disregard any series mentioned under the criteria for any
category should the level or number of participants of a specific season be considered to be
unrepresentative. In particular, the Committee will decide on whether to include a particular
Series in Tier 2 or Tier 3.
10.14 Drivers returning from significant injury or illness and with written medical proof may, subject
to the approval of the Committee, return to racing one grade lower than their grade before the
accident or illness, to be reviewed after one year in accordance with Article 10.14 below.
10.15 Downgrades which are granted in the following cases:
• drivers who reach the age of 30 with no significant results
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• drivers returning after time away from racing
• drivers returning after accident or illness
will be indicated as Provisional on the Driver Categorisation public list. All drivers benefiting from
such a downgrade will be reviewed at the end of the next season in which they participate and
will either have their new categorisation confirmed or will revert to their previous grade.¶¶
Furthermore, the Committee may decide to indicate certain drivers, whose category is
considered as being borderline, as Provisional on the Driver Categorisation Public List. Any such
drivers are notified that their case will be re-examined at the end of the next season, at which
time they may be upgraded.
10.16 Special cases will be examined at the Committee’s discretion, including when such cases arise
outside the time periods specified in these Regulations.
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