Zander: FIA staff should be free to join teams

Apr.4 - Sauber technical boss Jorg Zander says FIA personnel should be free to move to F1 teams.

Recently, the moves of engineers Marcin Budkowski and Laurent Mekies from prominent FIA roles to Renault and Ferrari respectively have made waves in the paddock.

But Zander says any 'gardening leave' requirements should not be too stifling.

"Of course you want to protect your own developments, but you also have to see both sides," he told Speed Week.

"I would not like to block people. Of course it would be stupid to have someone with access learning everything and then joining a team right away.

"But you have to see it from the point of view of the employer and the employee too," Zander explained.

"You also cannot fool yourself: if someone wants to work for a team then he will, regardless of the contracts."

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Leopold

Leopold Pleijsier founded F1-Fansite.com in 2001 and has followed Formula 1 since the early 1980s. He writes about daily F1 news, race weekends, drivers and the sport’s history.

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