Night of work in the garage: Mercedes breaks the “curfew” regime imposed by the FIA

Night’s work for the mechanics Mercedes dominated the first day of free practice for the Austrian GP at the Red Bull Ring, but still needed to get back to work throughout the night. After the best time of Andrea Kimi Antonelli in FP1 followed by less than half a tenth of a tenth from teammate George Russell, the young Italian talent in fact conceded an encore, confirming himself not only as the fastest in the afternoon free practice session, but also particularly comfortable even in the complicated tire management on long runs with a high fuel load. A practically perfect Friday which however ended with the need for Toto Wolff’s team to return to work, breaking the so-called “curfew”. Click here to add Formula Passion as your favorite source on Google Discover: you will find our contents more easily The breaking of the curfew in the Austrian GP This is the FIA ​​rule which requires – also for a question linked to the “quality of life” of the mechanics – all the staff of each team to leave the circuit by a certain time in the evening and not to show up on the track before a certain time in the morning. A rule which, however, in exceptional cases in which it is necessary to fix something in the car, can also be broken on four occasions during the championship: for Mercedes it was the first time this year in which the mechanics remained on the track beyond 10pm in the evening to work on the Silver Arrows. This is the text of the official FIA press release announcing the breaking of the curfew: “Last night the Mercedes-AMG F1 staff, responsible for managing the single-seater, were inside the circuit during the eleven and a half hour period which began at 10.00pm on 26 June, and fourteen and a half hours before the scheduled start time for free practice 3, and ended at 09.30 on 27 June, three hours earlier of the scheduled start time for FP3. This was the first of four individual exceptions granted to Mercedes-AMG F1 during the 2026 Formula 1 season and therefore no action needs to be taken.” Mercedes is not the only F1 team to have worked at night. It is obviously not known why the mechanics remained on the track breaking the curfew, although one of the team’s main concerns remains the battery pack which has already caused several withdrawals over the course of the season (even considering McLaren’s customers). However, the Brackley team is in excellent company as it is already the fourth team to break the regime that prohibits staff from spending the night on the track: between Friday and Saturday Audi also worked on the cars of Hulkenberg and Bortoleto (and it is the second infraction of the season), while between Thursday and Friday it was Williams and Cadillac that were granted an exception for night work. As in the case of Mercedes, none of these F1 teams exceeded the number of violations allowed and therefore there were no penalties from the Federation.

Automobile Magazine – Formula1 English, News

2026-06-27 20:10:00