An unnamed engineer has alleged that some teams broke the 'gentleman's agreement' governing the factory shutdowns during F1's recent August break. As per an unofficial cost-cutting pact, the twelve competing teams all agreed to close their doors for a full 14-day period.
During that time, the teams pledged to do almost no official F1 business -- not even the sending of a single email. But some teams broke the agreement, the unnamed engineer claims. "The factories were, for the most part, closed," the anonymous source told the Spanish newspaper El Pais' correspondent Oriol Puigdemont at Spa.
"But what was done was that some work was put in the hands of suppliers, who continued to make parts in August," he claimed. "I know firsthand that some teams, like Sauber and Williams for example, told their workers to shut down their computers on the last day of work and leave them at the factory.
"But there were others, like Ferrari, who never did that," the unnamed engineer said. "The restrictions (of the shutdown) were very vague, and cheating very simple. You could just create a parallel email account.
"Also, if someone looked at the log of communications and you have talked to one of your colleagues, you could just argue that it's just your friend who is in the same team," the source added. (GMM)
Engineer claims some breached August shutdown pact
- Published on 02 Sep 2012 13:20
-
0
- By: Danny Sosef
.
Trending news
-
Wolff's frustration boils over after Mercedes' worst weekend of the yearToto Wolff made no attempt to hide his frustration after Mercedes suffered their worst race weekend of the season at ...
28 Jul 2026 10:57 -
Max Verstappen heads back to the circuit where it all startedFormula 1 has spent months reshuffling its calendar after unrest in the Middle East forced the cancellation of both t...
28 Jul 2026 09:56 -
Hamilton's brutal self-assessment after third recent penaltyLewis Hamilton delivered a stark self-assessment after a difficult Hungarian Grand Prix, accepting responsibility for...
27 Jul 2026 16:22 -
Why Carlos Sainz is rethinking his Williams futureCarlos Sainz has acknowledged that his ambition to return to winning ways has been pushed back by as much as two year...
27 Jul 2026 15:21 -
Why Fernando Alonso is nowhere near F1 retirementFernando Alonso has signalled his intention to continue racing in Formula 1, stating that enjoyment behind the wheel,...
27 Jul 2026 14:19
Azerbaijan Grand Prix
Local time
-
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Azerbaijan Grand Prix
Local time
-
Friday
-
Saturday
-
Sunday
-
Friday
-
Saturday
-
Sunday
Test calendar
Circuit de Catalunya - Winter testing
-
Jan 26
I. Hadjar
- 1:18.159
-
-
-
Jan 27
M. Verstappen
- 1:19.578
-
-
-
Jan 28
A. Antonelli
- 1:17.362
-
-
-
Jan 29
G. Russell
- 1:16.445
-
-
-
Jan 30
L. Hamilton
- 1:16.348
-
-
Bahrain International Circuit - Winter testing
-
Feb 11
L. Norris
- 1:34.669
-
-
-
Feb 12
C. Leclerc
- 1:34.273
-
-
-
Feb 13
A. Antonelli
- 1:33.669
-
-
Bahrain International Circuit - Winter testing
-
Feb 18
G. Russell
- 1:33.459
-
-
Feb 19
A. Antonelli
- 1:32.803
-
-
Feb 20
C. Leclerc
- 1:31.992
-
-
World Championship standings 2026
Pos
Driver
Team
Points
Pos
Team
Points
Related news
Give your opinion!
Formula 1 Calendar - 2026
Date
Grand Prix
Circuit
-
Spain
-
Bahrain
-
Bahrain
Formula 1 Calendar - 2026
Date
Grand Prix & Circuit
-
Spain
Circuit de Catalunya
-
Bahrain
Bahrain International Circuit
-
Bahrain
Bahrain International Circuit
6 - Mar 8
Australia
Albert Park
13 - Mar 15
27 - Mar 29
Japan
Circuit Suzuka
10 - Apr 12
Bahrain
Bahrain International Circuit
17 - Apr 19
Saudi Arabia
Jeddah Street Circuit
1 - May 3
United States of America
Miami International Autodrome
22 - May 24
Canada
Gilles Villeneuve
5 - Jun 7
Monaco
Monte Carlo
12 - Jun 14
Spain
Circuit de Catalunya
26 - Jun 28
Austria
Red Bull Ring
3 - Jul 5
United Kingdom
Silverstone
17 - Jul 19
Belgium
Spa-Francorchamps
24 - Jul 26
Hungary
Hungaroring
Team profile
- Team name Sauber
- Base - Switzerland
- Gabriel Bortoleto
- Kimi Räikkönen 7
- Felipe Massa 8
- Marcus Ericsson 9
- Nico Hülkenberg 11
- Felipe Nasr 12
- Esteban Gutierrez 12
- Felipe Massa 12
- Felipe Massa 12
- Kamui Kobayashi 14
- Sergio Perez 15
- Charles Leclerc 16
- Kamui Kobayashi 16
- Sergio Perez 17
- Kimi Räikkönen 17
- Esteban Gutierrez 21
- Kamui Kobayashi 23
- Guanyu Zhou 24
- Nico Hülkenberg 27
- Antonio Giovinazzi 36
- Valtteri Bottas 77
- Pascal Wehrlein 94
- Adrian Sutil 99
- 115,816 comments on Sauber
5 members have this team as their favourite
Tweets about Sauber
Replies (0)
Login to reply