Timing, scoring and tech
Success handicap
The 2019-20 LMP1 system that slowed cars in proportion to their championship success.
The success handicap was a short-lived LMP1 balancing tool used in the 2019-20 season: cars were slowed in proportion to their championship points, with the leaders carrying the largest lap-time handicap, recalculated round by round. The stated aim was to keep the title fight alive in a class with one dominant factory team.
It was retired with the arrival of Hypercar, whose Balance of Performance adjusts car models rather than punishing championship position, and it did not apply at Le Mans even in its own season. It remains a useful reference point in any argument about where performance balancing should stop.
Part of the WEC Engine glossary. Questions with longer answers live in Answers.