What Is Parc Fermé in F1? Locked-Car Swaps

Once F1 parc fermé starts, the car is locked. The Technical Delegate then publishes which parts and parameters were replaced or changed on it.

Those parc fermé changes show up as Parc Fermé Issues, or as parts and parameters changed during parc fermé. A typical line is a drink bag, or a brake master cylinder and the parameters that go with that swap. Pit Trace files it on the race Parc Fermé tab, by team, for that weekend. The tab is a change log, not a penalty table.

Start is the steward Decision or Infringement that actually moves the car: a pit-lane start, or a grid-place drop tied to parc fermé, a car change, or another technical article.

Pulse and badges say Start, Pit lane, or +N start. Racing-incident grid drops, drive-throughs, and time penalties stay out. A Permission to Start that only restores grid eligibility after missing qualifying is not a Start row either.

Those start penalties are taken from the FIA steward PDFs, and Pit Trace stores each one against the driver for that weekend.

Going past the power-unit allocation limit is a different cost: an inferred PU grid under sporting article B8.2.8. If that PDF only applies B8.2.8 (“change to PU elements”), it stays on the PU side. It does not become a Start row.

Allocation overages show as PU grid (or +N grid) on the race page. Pit-lane starts and technical grid drops from the stewards stay on the Start tab.

Chassis and aero upgrades still come from the FIA car presentation document. Power-unit spend and inferred PU grid cost are under power-unit elements.

For the live rows, open a weekend from the home calendar (Upgrades, PU Elements, Start, Parc Fermé), or Tech / Updates and PU / Elements for the season indexes.

• Singapore Grand Prix
• Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia
• Azerbaijan Grand Prix
• Spanish Grand Prix
• Italian Grand Prix