The FIA Single Seater Director, Nikolas Tombazis, has warned Formula 1 teams that any exploitation of its forthcoming new regulations would amount to “suicide”.
F1 enters 2026 with a monumental set of new technical regulations, which will see a plethora of changes to the sport.
Teams will have most likely been left scratching their heads as to how they will interpret the new regulations, with famed technical guru Adrian Newey admitting they are “scary”.
The new rules have also courted stern opinions from a number of individuals, with Williams boss James Vowles calling for alterations to ease the difficulties for the drivers.
F1 teams will always look for ways to make the most of loopholes within rules to gain an advantage that might see them end up on top
But Tombazis, talking to FormulaPassion, made his stance clear: there is no problem with anything of the kind.
“We have adopted a different approach compared to situations we have had in the past,” he said.
“First of all, we made it clear to the teams that we will not tolerate anyone exploiting loopholes in the regulations that they have kept hidden from us.
“If a team came up with a solution based on a certain interpretation of the rules without asking us for clarification, we would never listen to them. If someone developed a concept based on a 50-50 ambiguous interpretation, it would be suicide for that team.”
FIA priority is F1 teams find ‘regulations understandable’
Tombazis, who has promised to avoid an overburdening on teams and drivers, has called for “clarity” if teams are looking at uncertain ways to gain an advantage.
“For any clarification requested by the teams, if we believe that the question asked indicates a grey area with little clarity, we would ensure that an identical communication is sent to all teams,” he outlined.
“If we take the similar case of the double diffuser in 2009, at the time there were communications between the FIA and some teams, but not with all of them.
“There were therefore people working with different interpretations of the regulations. At the moment, however, our absolute priority is that the regulations are understandable to everyone.”
Tombazis added: “For any clarification requested by the teams, if we believe that the question asked indicates a grey area with little clarity, we would ensure that an identical communication is sent to all teams.
“If we take the similar case of the double diffuser in 2009, at the time there were communications between the FIA and some teams, but not with all of them.
“There were therefore people working with different interpretations of the regulations.
“At the moment, however, our absolute priority is that the regulations are understandable to everyone.”
Tombazis cited the case of Mercedes’ innovative Dual Axis System [DAS], which courted controversy at the time, and was eventually banned ahead of the 2021 season.
“[They asked us] after they did it. They took a risk. We made sure to avoid a similar scenario in the future,” he highlighted.
“Obviously, we can’t force teams to communicate with us, but I think it’s also advisable for their survival.
“If they based an entire car on a concept that could later be made illegal, it would be a disaster for them.
“Being transparent is in their best interest. In general, I think the teams have learned this lesson, which is why we went in that direction.”
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