New parc ferme process to stay in 2010

After a successful trial in Bahrain, the FIA will go ahead with a new parc ferme routine for the whole of the 2010 season.

Because the field is now bigger than in 2009, the governing body decided to cease the practice of locking all the cars away in a single location between qualifying on Saturday until race-day morning.

Instead, teams can now leave their cars in their own garages, albeit still under strict ’parc ferme’ conditions.

It now involves placing a flyscreen-style cover featuring special locks over the cars, which are then monitored by sophisticated overhead cameras.

In the dead of night, the cameras trigger alarms when movement is detected in the garages, and higher resolution is then activated for the FIA video inspectors.