FIA IMPOSES DRACONIAN RULES ON TEAMS TO STOP COST CAP EXPLOITATION

The FIA is dropping the hammer on cost cap gamesmanship. Starting in 2027, teams must physically segregate F1 staff from non-F1 personnel—different offices, electronic access controls, separate IT systems, the works. No more aerodynamicists grabbing lunch with yacht designers and casually swapping CFD insights.

The target is obvious: outfits like Red Bull Advanced Technologies and Mercedes Applied Science, where non-F1 staff could theoretically feed knowledge into the race team while being paid outside the cap. Previous patches didn't work, so the FIA went scorched earth. Staff transfers now require three-month cooling periods and 12-month exclusive commitments. Even shared spaces like windtunnels can't be occupied by both groups simultaneously.

Several teams pushed back hard, but the governing body rammed it through anyway. For Haas—no yacht division, no applied science wing—this levels the field a tick. The big teams built empires around the cap; now those walls have to go up for real.