In a bid to ensure that the rules are not broken, the FIA is to introduce further guidelines in terms of teams sharing information.

The most obvious example of such potential is between the two Red Bull owned teams, however there are a number of teams in the pitlane that share close relationships with rivals.

This season saw AlphaTauri almost claim seventh from Williams in the team standings, and some believe this to be courtesy of assistance from its sister team.

"I think, right or not right, it needs to be discussed," said Haas team boss, Guenther Steiner recently. "Obviously, there are a lot of other sports where that is not allowed.

"But up to now there was not an issue with this," he added, having made his point.

However, the FIA's single-seater chief, Nikolas Tombazis is confident that the sport's governing body has the situation in hand, though he admits there is room for improvement.

"We check teams that are in close proximity to each other a lot more closely than we check completely independent teams, exactly to make sure this thing doesn't happen," he tells Autosport.

"That is a concern," he admits. "It has been a concern not only between the two teams mentioned, but also among other pairs of teams.

"We believe that AlphaTauri specifically does have quite different aerodynamic solutions to the other company, and we don't think there's any sign of any direct collaboration. Clearly, they are working hard and they have made a step forward. But I don't think it can be said it's due to collaboration.

"That said, collaboration, or making sure that no such thing happens, is one of the tricky parts of policing teams. We need to audit and make sure that all of these teams are well segregated. And we will be issuing some further guidance quite soon to just provide further information to the teams about how they can convince us none of that is happening.

"We're not underestimating the challenge," he insists, "it is one of the difficulties we have.

"That is obviously heavily illegal," he says of teams trialling their own development programmes with a bid to sharing the data to benefit both, "because we have at times in the past checked similar components between teams and then got into their development process to see how they evolved.

"I don't think there's something like that happening at the moment. We have checked and we have a process to check. Is it easy? No, I'm not saying it's easy, it's always sort of a challenge."

The Greek engineer admits that one of the greatest threats comes from the potential for teams to correspond virtually.

"The main incentive for two teams to collaborate isn't whether they exchange components or whether they even share a wind tunnel," he says. "You can have two teams collaborating, one is in the UK, and one is in Argentina, and if two teams wants to communicate against regulations, have Zoom calls and have the engineers chat with each other, that is quite feasible.

"We don't watch people's day-to-day movements, and nor is it our intention to do so. These pairs of teams get more frequently criticised for collaboration just because they have common ownership or whatever, but it is not the only pair of teams that could collaborate. You could have two independent teams who decide to mutually gain by helping each other.

"I don't think that's happening," he insists, "I'm just saying that our tools to prevent this happening don't need to be just linked to physical components that are sold by one team to the other."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by kenji, 18/12/2023 2:12

"Gardening leave is self explanatory. No more experimentation with new and wholesome variations of species for the betterment of the planet. It simply means daily employment mixing compost and putting potting mix into pots and some occasional watering duties......"

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2. Posted by Ricardo_sanchez, 17/12/2023 12:16

"@ NS Biker - “gardening leave” is paid by the original employer who still has the employee under contract until the end of the notice period. During “gardening leave” the employee remains contractually bound and could, in theory, be called upon to work for the employer. "

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3. Posted by NS Biker, 16/12/2023 4:01

"The most common means of preventing or reducing technology transfer with personnel movement is "Gardening Leave". My question is who pays the salary during this period.? The team the person is leaving or the new position team.?
If the Gardening Leave is 6 or 12 months, this is a significant expense. Who foots the bill.?"

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4. Posted by Stitch431, 15/12/2023 20:14

"FIA drops Wolff investigation
FIA confirms ban on aero testing
FIA to issue further guidance on team collaboration

Yep, the Power of the Wolffs is way to obvious ... "

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5. Posted by Mad Matt, 15/12/2023 15:10

"I seem to remember a team being accused of copying another car and they had to "show their work" to prove they genuinely designed the parts concerned.

Probably fake-able but not trivial to fake...."

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6. Posted by kenji, 14/12/2023 11:42

"@Max...I believe it's quite close to being able to do so already!! "

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7. Posted by Max Noble, 14/12/2023 8:52

"@Kenji - Just wait until ChatGPT can shape 3D models… What are the FIA going to do about that?!"

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8. Posted by kenji, 14/12/2023 1:40

"It would appear to be a nightmare to effectively police these matters. As an example consider there is one part which is the key to unlocking vastly increased performance but this part is unique insofar as the form defines the function and vice versa. It may have been generated by utilising the aforementioned criteria but others have also come to the same conclusion! How can the FIA impose a ruling that it wasn't an original part produced without any collusion? Best left alone unless there are indisputable supporting facts. As I said, a nightmare IMO."

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9. Posted by Spindoctor, 13/12/2023 14:43

"Cripes.
I mean if Toto & Susie are allegedly exchanging secrets then who knows what might occur if personnel of the two Red Bull Teams were inadvertently to share some nugget over a pint down the boozer, or carelessly email engineering drawings to the wrong recipient.
None of that happens of course.....

Luckily, as @Max Noble has pointed-out when staff move between teams they are brain-wiped to prevent just such catastrophic events....

"

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10. Posted by Max Noble, 13/12/2023 11:22

"Yup… every time Messi or Ronaldo change team they get a memory wipe. They are keen to ensure no wash-over of memory. All F1 engineers have a procedure performed during their exit interview just like that scene from the Men in Black where they wiped people’s minds.

Yup… no carry over, or leakage ever… Honest…. Seriously….

Waste of effort…
"

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FIA to issue further guidance on team collaboration

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