Super Formula scraps dropped scores for 2022 season

The Japanese single-seater series started counting only a driver's five best scores out of seven towards the championship in 2020 in response to the coronavirus pandemic, with the intention of assisting those drivers who were forced to miss races due to travel restrictions.

However, the practice came under criticism for making championship permutations much more complex, while the drivers affected by Japan's strict travel rules ended up missing more than two races in a year.

Governing body JAF issued a bulletin this week clarifying that, for the 2022 campaign, all races will count towards a driver's final championship total.

Japan continues to mandate a two-week quarantine period for all incoming arrivals into the country, reversing a brief relaxation of the policy following the outbreak of the Omicron variant of COVID.

Toyota FIA World Endurance Championship regulars Kamui Kobayashi and Ryo Hirakawa are likely to be the only drivers on the 2022 grid affected by any ongoing quarantine requirements.

Another minor change to the rules for the new Super Formula season is that points accrued during double-header events will not be halved as they were in previous years.

This comes at a time that the calendar is expected to feature a number of double-header events, potentially bringing up the total number of races from seven to 10. It has yet to be confirmed which events on the already-announced 2022 schedule will be made into double-headers.

To deal with the increased number of races, drivers will now be permitted to use two engines per season instead of one. The penalty for an unauthorised engine change remains a 10-place grid drop.