Bojan Vrbnjak
Miss Formula 1 after the race for Hungarian GP went on a summer break, and a new meeting follows on August 30, when the first free practice is scheduled in Spa. During the summer break, the factory must be idle for at least two weeks, and work on the car is prohibited during this time. But do the teams stick to that as well?
Gunther Steiner, team boss HaasF1, says: “It's basically quite simple. All work on the car is prohibited during the break. There is no development, there is no production. The administrative part, however, is understandably not dormant. Last but not least, the bills have to be paid, the salaries of the employees have to be taken care of."
The summer break was introduced for the reason that team employees are offered rest and time to spend with their loved ones due to the busy calendar of 21 races. This break in Formulas 1 since 2014 it has also been anchored in the sports rules of the royal class of motorsport.
To make statements Steiner described in some detail, it is mainly about this: Anything related to the car and its performance is prohibited. It is also not allowed to make new parts, not even from external partners. Also, no racing cars may be made. Work in the wind tunnel of current and future racing cars is prohibited, and engineers are not allowed to turn on computers for CFD technologies. Team management may not perform any work that deals with the work of the team on the racetrack, including the reservation of airline tickets or hotels.
And what is allowed? Works in the wind tunnel for non-affiliated clients Formula 1. Infrastructure can also be worked on - in buildings or in the field of information technology, even on the wind tunnel. In addition, all administrative work, as already explained by Steiner. Judging by the rules, it is therefore clear what can be done and what cannot. The logical question that is in place, however, is this: But who actually controls this? You should answer that FIA. A high-ranking official of the umbrella organization says: “Nobody. There are also no random checks, no factory insight. We need to trust that team leaders, as responsible people, follow the rules."
And what do the teams say? The common denominator of all is this: Verification is impossible. And it’s very questionable whether everyone has stuck to the summer break over the years - on the whole scale of course. It is quite striking that in the past years, after the summer break, one or another team returned in better shape. This raises suspicions among competitors as to whether the work in the factories there has really stopped.
A longtime collaborator Formula 1 recalls: "Of course, I also have my own doubts that everyone is following the rules of the summer break. Even if they had random checks, who would check co-workers on what they were doing at home? But cheating here is associated with great risks, which is why you have to think about it really well. The biggest danger of being caught is the so-called whistleblowers for me. Because there are always a lot of personnel changes between the teams, and it is not difficult to find a co-worker here who leaves the company in anger and betrays certain secrets of the employer. Information may leak from external team partners. If they catch you, it would be a great shame for both Formula 1 and the trapped team. And potential whistleblowers are the best insurance for the FIA to keep teams complying with regulations."
