Does gardening leave in Formula 1 still make sense?

There’s a joke that’s been going around the Formula 1 paddock since the start of the season: Britain has never had such well-kept gardens!

It’s a reference to Formula 1’s ‘gardening leave’ – the informal name for that period after an employee ends his time working at a team but before he is contractually free to join someone else.

After all, if someone has signed for a rival competitor, it is not in a team’s interest to let them move immediately – because they can take some valuable current knowledge with them.

Instead, staff are often forced to see out the remainder of their contracts – either by working on special projects unrelated to the F1 team or at home. 

In this period of limbo, their knowledge of current developments is limited, so when they arrive at their new team there is not as much they can add.

Over the years, teams have significantly increased this period of gardening leaving imposed in the event of resignation, sometimes reaching more than 12 months.

For example, Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur signed his new technical director Loic Serra back in the late spring of 2023, but he will be joining only this October.

The gardening leave system was accepted because it protects those who fear losing staff.

However, there has been some pushback over it in recent months as some question whether the whole system needs changing.

Since the end of 2022, eight of the 10 Formula 1 teams have hired a new team principal, and it is common practice for a new name at the helm to want to make changes to the team’s organisational chart.

All of this translates into recruitment campaigns that, in the vast majority of cases, aim to draw technicians and managers from other teams.

This is what we have seen since the beginning of 2023, with a series of personnel movements (especially technical) that has led to hundreds of resignation letters.

As one team insider said: “If we put together all those who are on gardening leave, we can form an 11th team!”

Last winter, Vasseur spoke about difficulties encountered by those who want to make their own mark on a team.

“When you realise that you have a gap to fill with hiring, you know that a new employee will have to wait 12 months before joining the team,” he said.

“After that period, they can start coming to the office, and their contribution will only be visible in the following year’s project.