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Formula 1 · FIA 2026

Parc fermé freezes the car's specification and setup, not every garage task.

Published

Under the FIA's 2026 Formula One Sporting Regulations, a team may not replace or modify a part, or change the car's setup or configuration, while pre-Sprint or pre-Race parc fermé applies unless the work is listed in Appendix B2 or approved by the FIA Technical Delegate. Tyres, fluids, specified checks and tightly controlled repairs remain possible.

Quick ruling: at a standard-format Grand Prix, the lock begins when the car first leaves the pit lane in Qualifying and lasts until the start of the Race. At an alternative-format competition, one lock runs from Sprint Qualifying to the start of the Sprint and a second runs from Qualifying to the start of the Race. An unauthorised setup or specification change under Article B3.5.3 requires a pit-lane start for the relevant Sprint or Race.
When it applies Check a proposed change
Scope

The governing rule and effective version

This page covers the FIA Formula One World Championship under the 2026 FIA Formula 1 Regulations, Section B: Sporting Regulations, Issue 08, dated 5 August 2026 and approved by the World Motor Sport Council on 3 August 2026. The controlling provisions are Articles B3.4–B3.6 and Appendix B2.

These are Formula 1 rules, not a universal definition of parc fermé across other FIA championships. A Race Director's event instructions and the Technical Delegate's written approvals can govern the practical work at a particular competition, but they do not create a general right to change setup.

Core distinction

Three controls are often called “parc fermé”

  • Pre-Sprint or pre-Race lock: Article B3.5 freezes specification, setup and configuration while allowing only listed or approved work.
  • Overnight sealing: Article B3.4 sets deadlines for covering cars and making them ready for FIA seals. Removing the covers before the stated time does not end the setup lock.
  • Post-session holding area: Article B3.6 restricts access and intervention after the Sprint or Race while officials supervise checks.

A car can therefore be under parc fermé conditions while physically inside its team garage. The expression describes regulatory control as well as the fenced or marked inspection area.

Timing

Exactly when the setup lock applies

Article B3.5.1 uses the car's first pit-lane departure in the relevant qualifying session as the trigger, not the end of that session.

Standard format

Qualifying → Race start

The car enters pre-Race parc fermé the first time it leaves the pit lane during Qualifying. It remains locked through the rest of Qualifying, overnight and the pre-Race grid procedure until the Race starts.

Article B3.5.1(b)One lock
Alternative format

Sprint Qualifying → Sprint start

The first lock begins on the car's first pit-lane departure during Sprint Qualifying and ends when the Sprint starts. The car is then subject to the Sprint and post-Sprint procedures.

Article B3.5.1(a)First lock
Alternative format

Qualifying → Race start

After the Sprint and any post-Sprint FIA controls, teams have a setup window before Qualifying. A new lock begins when the car first leaves the pit lane in Qualifying and lasts until the Race starts.

Article B3.5.1(b)Second lock
Car does not run

Staying in the garage does not avoid the lock

If a car never leaves the pit lane during Sprint Qualifying or Qualifying, Article B3.5.1 deems it to be in parc fermé at the end of SQ1 or Q1 respectively. A team cannot preserve a free setup choice simply by missing the session.

Before the first departure, Article B3.5.2 also requires the competitor to give the Technical Delegate a suspension setup sheet for each car. That declaration gives scrutineers a baseline against which later repair and rebuild work can be checked.

What is frozen

No free redesign, reconfiguration or setup change

Article B3.5.3 starts with a broad prohibition: no part may be replaced or modified and no change may be made to setup or configuration. Appendix B2 and a Technical Delegate approval under B3.5.4 are exceptions to that prohibition, not examples of a looser general standard.

  • Suspension: ride-height, geometry or other setup changes cannot be made merely because practice or qualifying exposed a poor compromise.
  • Aerodynamic specification: the car cannot be converted to a different race aero package simply to improve straight-line speed, balance or tyre use.
  • Replacement parts: damage or failure does not automatically permit any spare in the garage to be fitted. The listed repair rules and FIA approval process control.
  • Front wing: Appendix B2, item 2.1 permits adjustment of the position of the Front Wing Profiles using what is already fitted; no part may be added, removed or replaced under that permission.
Permitted work

Maintenance remains possible within Appendix B2

The Appendix is a defined list. Important examples in Issue 08 include:

  • Brakes: remove, measure, de-glaze and refit friction material, and bleed the brake system.
  • Bodywork: remove bodywork other than radiators and heat exchangers; conduct non-destructive inspection without disassembly; clean the car; replace consumable bodywork fixings and cable ties; and make limited patch, bond or fastening repairs.
  • Electronics and safety: connect a jump battery, access onboard electrical units by physical connection, carry out safety checks including ERS energy-store charging or discharging, and perform the specifically listed camera, radio, telemetry and sensor work.
  • Fluids: add or drain fuel and compressed gases; drain, replenish or bleed fluids using the same specification; and add driver drink fluid, whose container may not exceed 1.5 litres.
  • Powertrain inspections: start the engine, remove spark plugs for internal inspection and compression checks, inspect and clean the intake filter, borescope the gearbox without removing it from the car, and inspect the exhaust including by non-destructive testing.
  • Tyres: remove, change or rebalance wheels, fasteners and tyres, and adjust tyre pressures, subject to the separate tyre regulations.
Damage and repair

“Damaged” is not a blank cheque

Appendix B2 Section 7 recognises genuine accident damage from contact with a barrier, contact with another car on track, or an off-track event that also produced a significant loss of lap time or a lap deleted by the Race Director. Listed bodywork repair may patch, bond or fasten the damaged material, but it may cause no more than incidental geometry change and cannot introduce replacement components or sub-components under that repair permission.

For other replacement work, Article B3.5.4 requires a written request and the Technical Delegate's approval. The replacement must be the same in design and similar in mass, inertia and function to the original, and the removed part is retained by the FIA. Removed parts used for permitted work or essential safety checks must remain close to the car, visible to its scrutineer, and be refitted before the car leaves the pit lane.

Urgent trackside exception: during Sprint Qualifying, Qualifying, specified grid work or between reconnaissance laps, a broken or damaged part may be changed without first waiting for approval only where the team reasonably believes approval would be given if time allowed. The damaged part must remain in the assigned scrutineer's view. This is an urgent procedure, not permission for a performance change.
Narrow exceptions

Different-design bodywork, weather and survival cell

  • Six requests in the Championship: under Article B3.5.5, different-design Front Wing, Rear Wing, Rear Bodywork or Floor Bodywork will be considered for approval on no more than six occasions. The replacement specification must previously have been used in pre-season public collective testing, Sprint Qualifying, Qualifying or a total-time classified session. “Considered” does not mean automatically accepted.
  • Climatic conditions: cooling-related changes listed in Appendix B2 become available only after the Technical Delegate is satisfied they are necessary and all competitors receive the official “CHANGE IN CLIMATIC CONDITIONS” message. The permission is limited to the specified components and settings.
  • Heat Hazard: Issue 08 includes specific driver-cooling work after a Heat Hazard declaration, including controlled cooling-medium work and, where applicable, FIA-validated cockpit ballast. It is not a general setup exception.
  • Survival-cell change: Appendix B2, item 11.1 permits a replacement car after genuine accident damage or a significant failure accepted under Article B8.1.1. Components must remain the same in design and similar in mass, inertia and function, and the suspension setup must stay the same.
Decision path

How to decide whether work is legal

  1. Identify the format and session. Is the car inside the Sprint Qualifying-to-Sprint lock, the Qualifying-to-Race lock, or a post-session control period?
  2. Name the proposed task precisely. “Repair the car” is too vague; adjusting a front-wing profile, fitting a new floor and bonding a crack are different acts.
  3. Check Appendix B2. If the exact task is listed, comply with all limits attached to it and keep the work under scrutiny.
  4. If it is not listed, request approval. Article B3.5.4 requires the competitor to write to the Technical Delegate. For a replacement, demonstrate the required equivalence.
  5. Check the special route. Genuine accident damage, the six different-design bodywork occasions, a climatic-conditions message and a survival-cell change each have separate tests.
  6. Do not confuse approval with a setup reset. A lawful repair generally restores the declared car; it does not let the team choose a new qualifying-to-race compromise.
  7. Apply the right consequence. A B3.5.3 specification or setup breach means the relevant pit-lane start. A different procedural breach may instead be reported and decided under its own article.
Worked case 1

A poor qualifying setup

Situation: after Qualifying at a standard-format 2026 event, a team wants to change rear suspension settings because the car overheats its tyres over a long run.

FIA 2026 ruling: the change is prohibited. It is a performance-driven suspension setup change, not listed work or restoration of approved damage. Under B3.5.3, making it requires the driver to start the Race from the pit lane.

Worked case 2

Front-wing flap adjustment

Situation: before the Race, the team changes the permitted position of the existing Front Wing Profiles but adds no part and replaces nothing.

FIA 2026 ruling: permitted by Appendix B2, item 2.1, provided the adjustment is the one described there. Calling the whole front wing “adjustable” would be too broad; a different wing assembly is not authorised by this clause.

Worked case 3

Sprint damage before Qualifying

Situation: a car finishes the Sprint with damage. Officials complete post-Sprint checks and release it before later Qualifying.

FIA 2026 ruling: the Sprint Qualifying-to-Sprint setup lock has ended. The team may work on and reset the car before Qualifying, subject to post-Sprint instructions and all other regulations. A new pre-Race lock starts on its first pit-lane departure in Qualifying.

Worked case 4

A different spare floor

Situation: a floor is damaged in Qualifying, but the only spare is a design previously run in pre-season testing. The team has not exhausted its six B3.5.5 occasions.

FIA 2026 ruling: the team may request approval; those facts make the request eligible to be considered, not automatically legal. Fitting the floor depends on the Technical Delegate's approval under B3.5.4–B3.5.5.

Enforcement

Declarations, seals, scrutiny and cameras

The FIA does not rely only on the cars parked after Qualifying. Under Articles B3.4 and B3.5, competitors submit suspension setup sheets, scrutineers supervise the work, selected cars go immediately for further checks, approved replacement-part lists are circulated, and a Parc Fermé Camera above each car must remain uncovered and operational throughout the competition.

At Alternative Format competitions, cars must normally be covered and ready for FIA seals within two hours after Sprint Qualifying. At every competition, the same two-hour deadline follows Qualifying. Covers and seals may be removed three hours before the Sprint formation lap or five hours before the Race formation lap, but Article B3.4 expressly says the cars remain under parc fermé conditions until the relevant start.

After the session

Post-Sprint and post-Race parc fermé is stricter access control

Article B3.6 permits only supervising officials to enter unless authorised. Parc fermé control applies from the Line to the entrance, and no intervention is allowed without official authorisation. At most three team personnel per car may enter solely to fit cooling fans or do work required by the supervising officials.

This post-session control is different from the pre-session setup lock. It protects inspection and weighing after the competitive session; it does not itself describe the qualifying-to-race setup choice.

Common misunderstandings

What the rule does not say

  • “No one may touch the car.” Appendix B2 allows defined maintenance, inspection, comfort, fluid, tyre and repair work.
  • “Parc fermé begins when Qualifying ends.” It normally begins on the car's first pit-lane departure in the qualifying session.
  • “Sprint weekends lock one setup from Friday to Sunday.” The 2026 Alternative Format has separate pre-Sprint and pre-Race lock periods, with a setup opportunity after the Sprint controls and before Qualifying.
  • “Any damaged part may be replaced like-for-like.” The permitted-work list and B3.5.4 approval route still apply, and different-design bodywork has an additional six-occasion limit and prior-use test.
  • “Rain automatically opens setup.” Appendix B2 requires the Technical Delegate's climatic-condition determination and an official message before its specified changes become available.
  • “Every parc fermé breach has the same penalty.” B3.5.3 prescribes the relevant pit-lane start for an unauthorised specification or setup change; other duties, such as weighing, access or sealing procedures, have their own wording and consequences.
Official references

Governing-body sources and effective version

Checked on 26 August 2026 against the FIA's published Section B Issue 08, approved by the WMSC on 3 August 2026. Articles B3.4–B3.6 and Appendix B2 control the current Championship baseline; event instructions and case-specific written approvals from the FIA Technical Delegate may supplement the procedure without creating a general setup exception. The FIA Insights article is used only to explain enforcement practice, not as the controlling rule text.