Alfa Romeo Sauber boss Fred Vasseur has warned the recent instances of FIA staff moving to Formula 1 teams could lead to “mistrust” of the governing body.
Last year, Renault announced the signing of ex-technical director Marcin Budkowsky as executive director and before the start of the season, Ferrari confirmed safety delegate Laurent Mekies will switch in a new technical role in September.
Their moves are controversial as rivals are worried the knowledge both men have of their cars could be passed on to their new employers and under Swiss law, which the FIA follows, only three months of gardening leave is permitted.
“I remember perfectly the situation with Marcin [Budkowsky], he was in all the wind tunnels two weeks before he left,” the ex-Renault boss told Motorsport.com
“Laurent [Mekies] is aware of key details of every single car, even if he was more focused on safety he’s aware of the key structure,” he added. “It’s a shame that we are not in the situation that the FIA could find a solution to keep their key guys.”
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The situation with Mekies led to a fiery confrontation between Red Bull’s Christian Horner and Ferrari’s Maurizio Arrivabene in Australia, with the prior accusing the latter of ignoring a ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ which had called for a period of one year away from F1 before starting in a position at a new team.
Vasseur’s concern, however, is if there is any suspicion an FIA official could be employed to a single outfit it could lead some to not be as forthcoming with their ideas and concepts.
“If we can’t trust them it will be an issue because we need to be very open with the FIA,” the Frenchman said. “We need to ask them if we’re in the regulations or not. If we are scared about this, it will be the beginning of a mess.”
