Here is the thing, as Speedcafe reports: the FIA is coming down hard on potential cost cap loopholes with a sweeping set of measures endorsed by the World Motor Sport Council. These new rules are designed to ensure that any work benefiting an F1 team across a wider organization is properly accounted for under the spending limits.
The changes hit hardest at outfits operating technology or engineering divisions outside of Formula 1. While previous controls targeted intellectual property transfers and shared employee costs, concerns lingered regarding close proximity between staff on separate projects. Under the upcoming 2027 operational regulations, teams must set up strictly controlled workspaces for their F1 personnel, completely isolated from areas handling unrelated projects.
Access to these restricted zones will demand electronic entry systems, with detailed records kept for three years for potential FIA inspection. While staff from F1 and non-F1 divisions can still share communal spaces like canteens and car parks, actual work cannot happen there. Shared facilities like wind tunnels and simulators must be used entirely separately, and computer systems alongside communications must stay isolated.
Personnel movements are equally locked down to stop teams from dodging spending limits by shifting employees around. Staff moving from non-F1 arms into a team must spend three months completely away from both operations before starting their new job, followed by a mandatory 12 months working exclusively in F1. Those transferring out face similar curbs, mandatory contract and IT adjustments, and their salary must count toward the cost cap for the year they leave.
Alongside the financial clampdown, separate sporting regulations bring wild changes to race distances. Most grands prix will drop from 305 kilometres to 290 kilometres in 2027, before returning to standard lengths in 2028, with only Monaco's 260-kilometre race staying untouched. This temporary cut happens because F1 is shifting hybrid power splits, increasing internal combustion engine output from 53 percent to 58 percent in 2027, and 60 percent by 2028.
Greater fuel flow allowances mean cars might otherwise need larger tanks to finish races at current lengths, making the shorter distance a pragmatic fix to save teams from redesigning fuel capacities immediately. To top it off, the FIA confirmed that drivers can continue using an additional example of each permitted power unit component through both 2027 and 2028.
