Does Formula 1 still need a parc ferme? The teams would like to keep it, but are in favor of some easing in the future
After qualifying, no more work may be carried out on the cars in Formula 1 until the start of the race on Sunday. The so-called parc ferme applies, which prohibits the teams from making any further major changes to the cars
In future, however, this regulation could be relaxed a little. Particularly in connection with the sprint races, which are still quite new, the question has recently been asked again and again as to whether the parc ferme in this form still makes sense at all.
Ferrari sporting director Diego Ioverno explains that the parc ferme was originally introduced to prevent the teams from doing “crazy things” between qualifying and the race. Without parc ferme, for example, teams could have built two completely different cars for qualifying and the race.
“But there’s also another aspect: it’s about protecting the teams from themselves, because the engineers always have a lot of imagination and sometimes the mechanics are a bit too stressed,” explains Ioverno.
Why some restrictions could be superfluous
Despite this, there are currently discussions about relaxing the rules. “I think that the parc-ferme rules are still justified. We will probably relax some of them because there are other ways of controlling what we do,” says Ioverno.
What he means: Due to the budget cap, it would no longer be possible for teams to build two different cars for qualifying and the race, even without a parc ferme. It would simply be far too expensive.
In addition, there has been a curfew in Formula 1 for several years now, which would no longer allow the teams to work through the night to convert a car from qualifying to race trim.
“I don’t think we will abolish the parc ferme completely. But we are discussing this and other points with the FIA,” explains Ioverno. Tom McCullough, Performance Director at Aston Martin, takes a similar view
Rules should be “further developed “
“The introduction of the parc ferme has brought a lot of good things,” he emphasizes, but now it’s about “developing the rules further,” he says and reminds: “We allow certain things to be changed: You can change the brake material, you can do various little things.”
However, changing the ride height, for example, is not permitted. And this is precisely what probably became a problem for Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc in Austin. Both drivers were disqualified after the race because the floor plate on their cars was too worn.
McCullough explains: “There are things like the weather that affect it.” And because you are not allowed to work on the car from Friday onwards in a sprint race, as was the case in the USA, it is “difficult to predict three days in advance.”
“So I think that adjustments to the rules are always welcome from a technical point of view. But I don’t think we should abolish [the parc ferme],” he explains. Smaller changes could make sense these days, however.
