Under Cover

Cars and bodywork stored Thursday night in Hungary

At a time when people in the UK are locking things away and pulling down the shutters, it seems appropriate to look at what happens when the doors come down in an F1 garage and the cars are put away for the night. For Marussia Virgin Racing, the procedure is slightly different on Thursday/Friday compared to Saturday, because of the Parc Ferme conditions.

On Thursday and Friday, there is no requirement for the cars to be covered when they are not being worked on, but of course they are - otherwise that speck of dust that crept in unnoticed might end up somewhere it shouldn't. The covers are made to measure and also prevent unwanted eyes from seeing the car and on Friday they are fitted just before the mechanics scoot off to the hotel for the night, which can be as late as 01:00 without breaking the curfew that was imposed this year.

On Saturday though, there are more likely to be guests and sponsors around after the covers go on, as work must stop 4½ hours after Qualifying starts; typically that's 18:30 local time. As one of the highlights of any trip to the paddock is a garage tour, it would be very frustrating for guests that have been invited for dinner in the motorhome if they can't actually see the cars - which are clearly the stars of the show. So a kind of transparent net cover is used, which is also sealed via a cord/cable as required by the FIA (there's also a camera in the pods above the cars to ensure no illegal work goes on) but the general result is that the guests can still see the cars.

Panorama shot (click to expand) early Sunday, Hungaroring