Jan.18 (GMM) F1 drivers will not be penalised for their first unscheduled engine change in 2008, FIA president Max Mosley has confirmed in a letter to team bosses.

The rule tweak, ensuring that each driver will not lose ten grid places or be sent to the back of the grid for his first engine change of the season, was apparently agreed at the team principals' recent meeting with Mosley in Paris.

It must now be ratified by the World Motor Sport Council, but this is imminently likely.

"It was agreed that each team could have one engine failure per car without penalty during the 2008 season," Mosley wrote in a letter seen by some media outlets.

"This would be the first engine failure suffered by each car," he clarified.