Discussion
With all the scandal surrounding IP between Ferrari and McLaren that all comes to a head today in Paris, it got me thinking about the whole issue of IP and how anyone could really control it with so many key figures in F1 R&D moving from team to team.
Fair enough, the prick from McLaren who had Ferrari paperwork in his back pocket and who then took it to a local printers to get copied deserves everything coming to him...
However, it is widely known that all teams hire professional photographers to take pictures of their competitors cars so that tech bods back at HQ and review what the other teams are doing to see if they can 'copy' the idea, and as I mentioned above, team personel move around all the time so who can really hold onto IP of key elements of a design?
When Newey left Williams to head to McLaren, did he download all his thoughts from his brain and leave in a neat pile at the exit of Williams and start afresh at McLaren!!! Of course not, and likewise with his move to Red Bull...
So apart from the forementioned McLaren idiot who tried to have Ferrari documents copied, can F1 teams really hold onto IP of their designs in the long term?
Fair enough, the prick from McLaren who had Ferrari paperwork in his back pocket and who then took it to a local printers to get copied deserves everything coming to him...
However, it is widely known that all teams hire professional photographers to take pictures of their competitors cars so that tech bods back at HQ and review what the other teams are doing to see if they can 'copy' the idea, and as I mentioned above, team personel move around all the time so who can really hold onto IP of key elements of a design?
When Newey left Williams to head to McLaren, did he download all his thoughts from his brain and leave in a neat pile at the exit of Williams and start afresh at McLaren!!! Of course not, and likewise with his move to Red Bull...
So apart from the forementioned McLaren idiot who tried to have Ferrari documents copied, can F1 teams really hold onto IP of their designs in the long term?
It seems that some senior employees leave one team and move to another they must serve 8-10 months of paid gardening leave between jobs, and in that time designs have moved on.
Secondly a team will build somewhere close to six chassis a season, with literally hundreds of tweaks to wings, diffusers, technology, plus aero developments meaning that chassis one is very different from the car that goes out to Brazil and Japan.
With engines offering different power curves, you cannot copy a chassis and expect it to do the same job, and driving styles differ too, with some drivers getting more from some chassis than others, so just copying anothers team car from photographs is not really a great idea.
However it is hard for teams to completely control IP, especially when data specialists leave a team, or strategy experts move. What many people do not see or understand is the vast amount of 'behind the scenes' data mining that goes on, or the huge amount of CFD teams are now working on, and these are the guys who make cars handle more crisply and work more seamlessly.
Finally where engine technology is concerned, when major players move it does cause problems, especially when the rules are set for a couple of seasons. Lok at Mclarens reliability at the moment compared toa few years ago and look at how some teams ie BMW have improved in straight line speed compared to renault and Toyota. It is the small details that help across the season and new ideas from other teams can help hugely.
Protecting IP is nearly impossible when people move, but during a season teams do try and protect their designs and software strategies.
Secondly a team will build somewhere close to six chassis a season, with literally hundreds of tweaks to wings, diffusers, technology, plus aero developments meaning that chassis one is very different from the car that goes out to Brazil and Japan.
With engines offering different power curves, you cannot copy a chassis and expect it to do the same job, and driving styles differ too, with some drivers getting more from some chassis than others, so just copying anothers team car from photographs is not really a great idea.
However it is hard for teams to completely control IP, especially when data specialists leave a team, or strategy experts move. What many people do not see or understand is the vast amount of 'behind the scenes' data mining that goes on, or the huge amount of CFD teams are now working on, and these are the guys who make cars handle more crisply and work more seamlessly.
Finally where engine technology is concerned, when major players move it does cause problems, especially when the rules are set for a couple of seasons. Lok at Mclarens reliability at the moment compared toa few years ago and look at how some teams ie BMW have improved in straight line speed compared to renault and Toyota. It is the small details that help across the season and new ideas from other teams can help hugely.
Protecting IP is nearly impossible when people move, but during a season teams do try and protect their designs and software strategies.
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