Hi, This has been bugging me for a while..... As we know (at least if watching 'em on SpeedTV) the cars are in "parc ferme" mode from the start of qualifying until the race start. How the devil do the scrutineers tell if, eg, the ride height has been changed by say, 1mm? Or the wing angles changed? There's got to be a plethora of other stuff that could be changed without any "visible" differences. Is there an FIA dude "spying" all through the night? Any insights much appreciated, Cheers, Ian
My understanding is that they are locked up overnight and teams can only access them with the permission of the FIA.
Hmmm - I *guess* you could be right, but we also know the "boys" (and girls now!) are prepping these things late into the night on many occasions. And then the Q becomes - Where are they locked up? - Is there a real parc ferme that they all get delivered to? Or do the FIA simply lock the teams out of their garages? Thanks, Ian
The FIA will hold all the cars in their garages and or FIA facility at the track. I think the FIA hire local security folks and "seal" the garages ... Or so I beleive. I imagine at Monaco they most likely store all the cars in a separate paddock in the parking garage they normally use to work on the cars, and have it security guarded 24 hours.... its pretty easy to tell if someone has tampered,the ride height etc.. is all measured at the weighbridge in the FIA pit at the head of the pit lane... where they weigh the cars.... the wing templates etc.. are all passed over and under the car.... goes pretty easy. I think every car is done on the morning of first practice and then intermitantly thru out the weekend, but every car gets inspected at least 3times over the weekend... FIA can inspect any car at any time.
It also isn't uncommon for work to be allowed on the cars. After each weekend the FIA releases the technical delegates reports. These detail all of the inspections done by the FIA along with any parts replaced during parc ferme. The report from Monaco can be found here. At Monaco, 16 cars were allowed to replace parts, including both Ferraris and both Mclarens. David Coulthard's car had quite a bit replaced after his 'incident' in qualifying:
