Is anyone being smart about respecting the F1 rules? The doubt arose spontaneously when the FIA decided to make rapid visits to the teams without any warning. Inspections in factories, therefore, by the commissioners of the International Federation do not have to be planned well in advance, but can be carried out by surprise.
This is a tightening of the FIA's behavior towards a “zero notice” policy, after teams have enjoyed a soft approach to the increasingly restrictive factory inspection rules.
With the introduction of the budget cap, a ceiling was placed on the teams' expenses, but at the same time increasingly complex control rules came into operation: the teams, in fact, can be subjected to inspections during which the FIA personnel can go to put your nose into how the structures are managed and, above all, whether the stringent limits regarding CFD tests, wind tunnel research, management of external personnel who collaborate with the team are respected.
Not only that, but now there is also attention regarding the information that can be shared between two teams, so the possibility of possibly catching someone red-handed should become a deterrent to prevent anyone from thinking of be clever.
Photo by: Andre Vor / Sutton Images
Here is the entrance to the McLaren team factory
It is clear that if the visits to the team headquarters were agreed, the surprise effect was non-existent and the teams had plenty of time to “prepare”. Nikolas Tombazis, technical manager of the FIA single-seater sector, has decided to change tone by announcing that “…inspections will be carried out with zero notice. We do not claim that by simply ringing the bell our staff should be introduced into the factory, but we want to ensure that we can be preceded by a courtesy phone call that informs the team managers, so that when the FIA delegation arrives at the headquarters they will find someone ready to welcome her.”
In the past there must have been situations in which FIA delegates were forced to wait long periods before having access to the factory to begin inspections… “A quarter of an hour at most is enough – continues Tombazis -. We don't have to wait at the gates an hour or more”.
The FIA's action becomes more decisive because the staff made available to carry out checks with a frequency of one every two or three weeks has finally been increased. Will we find ourselves faced with surprises from those who in this slack phase have been able to count on inspections, if not scheduled, almost?
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