The short version
- From 1 January 2027, F1 teams must keep people who work on F1 apart from people who work on non-F1 projects: separate work areas, separate IT systems, and no information flowing from the non-F1 side into F1.
- Moving staff between the two sides is allowed, but it is slow. Going into F1 means three months of doing no work on either side, then 12 months of F1 work only. Going the other way locks you into 12 months of non-F1 work.
- The FIA can walk into a factory and audit the IT. Teams have to keep access records for three years, and the team principal has to sign off the IT policy.
The 2027 F1 regulations were issued on 19 October 2026, and Article F6 of the Operational Regulations is where the 2027 F1 regulations spell out how teams must separate their F1 operation from everything else they do. Here is what it actually says, in plain English.
Who it applies to
The article covers every company in a team’s legal group, with exceptions for companies that only ever do one type of work and share no facilities or restricted IT with the other side. Staff fall into three groups:
| Group | Who is in it |
|---|---|
| Restricted F1 workforce | People working on F1 (and power unit supply, customer team support and FIA projects) |
| Restricted non-F1 workforce | People working only on non-F1 activities |
| Non-restricted workforce | The CEO, team principal, CIO and board, plus staff in marketing, HR, finance, legal, catering, facilities, procurement, logistics and IT support, among others |
The first two groups must never access each other’s areas or each other’s work. The third can work on either side.
Physical separation
F1 and non-F1 staff must work in separate premises or in separate, dedicated parts of a building. Nobody in either restricted group may do their job from a shared space. Teams need an electronic access system to control and monitor entry.
| Type of area | Examples | Who can use it |
|---|---|---|
| F1 area / non-F1 area | Offices and workspaces | Only their own side |
| Restricted shared areas | Wind tunnels, driver-in-the-loop simulators, dynamometers, test benches, data centres, meeting rooms | Both sides, but never at the same time |
| Non-restricted shared areas | Entrance halls, corridors, canteens, wellbeing areas, manufacturing and assembly, storage, car parks | Everyone at once, but no core work there |
There is one carve-out. A team can designate a small number of F1 staff as approved operational support personnel, who may enter a shared area while the non-F1 side is using it, but only for support, safety or facility management that cannot wait. They must not do F1 work in that time, and must not pull anything useful back from what they see. The team has to keep written justifications and contracts covering sensitive information, and keep records of every approved person for a rolling three years.
IT separation
This is the stricter half. The aim is that nobody on the F1 side can access, change, download or use anything produced by the non-F1 side. Systems must be virtually segregated, or duplicated if virtual separation isn’t enough, with one copy for F1 and one for non-F1.
- Every user gets a unique login. Shared logins are allowed only where there is no reasonable alternative, with a written justification kept for three years, and never across the F1 and non-F1 sides.
- Output from each side must be stored in an area the other side cannot see.
- Firewalls and network controls must block connections between the two sides’ restricted systems.
- Systems need audit trails, and the team must keep evidence of permissions for three years.
- The team must write an IT segregation policy, signed by its CIO, CFO and team principal, covering how it grants access, audits itself and trains staff, and make it available to the FIA.
The one-way street
Information is allowed to travel from F1 to non-F1, but only as a formal permitted transfer. The non-F1 side must request it, the F1 side must approve it, and it must be recorded. Any discussion has to be limited to how the output might be used outside F1, held on a recorded and transcribed video call, and the recording is available to the FIA. Nothing flows the other way. The rules say outputs from the non-F1 side may not be shared with the F1 side in any circumstances.
Moving people between sides
| Move | What is required |
|---|---|
| F1 to non-F1 | New contract with a new job title. Old IT permissions withdrawn by the end of the working day before the move, and new ones (including a new email account) issued, with no access to F1 data. Then 12 consecutive months of non-F1 work only. |
| Non-F1 to F1 | At least three months before the move: no F1 or non-F1 work, no restricted IT access, and old permissions withdrawn. New contract and new IT permissions. Then 12 consecutive months of F1 work only. |
In both cases the person’s pay for the entire year of the move counts toward the team’s relevant costs, subject to the financial regulations. Teams must log every permission withdrawn and granted, and keep those logs for three years.
No sneaking round it
Article F6 also lists banned workarounds at length. Teams may not use messaging systems, external drives, permitted transfers, staff movement, contractual arrangements or third-party go-betweens to get around the rules, or to swap or solicit know-how between F1 and non-F1 work. The FIA can carry out physical inspections of facilities and IT forensic audits at any time, and teams must cooperate and act in good faith.
What it means
The regulations do not say why they exist. The long-running paddock concern is that sister companies and side projects could feed know-how into F1 teams while their pay sits outside the cost cap. Nothing has been proved, and the rules do not name any team or project. What they do is replace trust with paperwork: separate buildings, separate logins and a three-year paper trail that the FIA can ask to see at any time. Compliance will cost money too, and teams with big non-F1 operations will feel it most. Whether it closes the loophole or just rewards the team with the best lawyers is a question for 2027.