The FIA’s workload during a Formula 1 race weekend is enormous. Alongside managing the sporting side of every Grand Prix, the governing body must also carry out a comprehensive series of technical inspections to ensure that every car complies with the regulations throughout the event. These procedures are an essential part of modern Formula 1, as they guarantee that all teams compete under the same technical framework and that the final results accurately reflect what happened on track.
Technical compliance has become increasingly important in recent years as Formula 1 cars have grown more complex, particularly with the introduction of active aerodynamic systems and increasingly sophisticated hybrid power units. As a result, the FIA devotes significant resources to monitoring every aspect of the cars before, during and after each race weekend.
Numerous checks are performed on the cars before and after Sunday’s race. Some inspections apply to the entire grid, like weighing every car or verifying standard safety requirements, while others are targeted at specific components, individual teams or particular technical systems that the FIA considers worthy of closer attention. In addition to these routine procedures, one car is randomly selected from the top ten finishers for a comprehensive physical inspection, during which engineers and FIA officials examine several areas in far greater detail than during standard scrutineering.
These inspections are far more than a formality. Every measurement, every component and every electronic system can potentially become the focus of an investigation if there are any doubts regarding compliance with the Technical Regulations. Even the smallest discrepancy can result in serious consequences, which is why every Formula 1 team invests enormous effort into ensuring that its cars remain fully legal throughout an entire race weekend.
The results of these inspections are published in two official FIA documents: Race Scrutineering and Post Race Checks. Together, these reports provide an extremely detailed overview of the work carried out by FIA technical delegates during each Grand Prix weekend. If no irregularities are found throughout the inspection process, the race result is officially validated and becomes final.
The Race Scrutineering document records the inspections carried out before the race as well as those completed after the Grand Prix. These checks typically focus on several key areas of the cars, including the tyres, the floor, the front and rear wings, the power unit and the conformity of the bodywork components with the Technical Regulations.
Depending on the specific race weekend and any technical concerns identified by the FIA, certain areas may receive more attention than others. Sometimes the governing body focuses heavily on aerodynamic flexibility, while on other occasions it may concentrate on electronic systems, hybrid components or power unit software. This flexible approach allows the FIA to monitor different technical areas throughout the season without limiting itself to a fixed inspection routine.
After the first nine races of the season, unlike last year, every car inspected has been found to comply with the FIA Technical Regulations. This represents an important difference compared to previous campaigns, when post-race investigations occasionally led to penalties or disqualifications after technical irregularities were discovered.
These official reports also provide valuable insight into the number and type of targeted inspections carried out, as well as how frequently they are repeated throughout the championship. As a result, they offer Formula 1 fans an interesting perspective on which technical areas are currently attracting the greatest attention from the sport’s governing body and how inspection priorities evolve as the season progresses.
Using these official FIA documents, we analysed the inspections performed on the Ferrari SF-26 cars driven by Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, as well as the Mercedes W17 machines raced by Kimi Antonelli and George Russell. The comparison offers an interesting picture of how frequently both leading teams have been subjected to targeted technical scrutiny during the opening phase of the championship.
Let us begin with Ferrari. Across the opening nine rounds of the season, the Ferrari SF-26 has been subjected to 27 different types of technical inspections. This demonstrates both the wide range of areas monitored by the FIA and the governing body’s continued attention towards one of Formula 1’s most competitive teams.
Throughout the year, the Ferrari cars of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc have repeatedly undergone detailed examinations covering multiple systems, reflecting the FIA’s commitment to ensuring that every performance gain remains fully within the boundaries of the Technical Regulations.
During both the Chinese Grand Prix and the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona, the post-race checks were particularly extensive and are described in detail within the corresponding *Post Race Checks* reports. These inspections went significantly beyond the routine procedures carried out after most Grands Prix and involved a deeper physical examination of numerous technical components.
The Canadian Grand Prix featured the highest number of inspections, with a total of 12 individual checks carried out on the Maranello team’s single-seaters. These included specific examinations of the transition timing for the active aerodynamic system, together with detailed inspections of the power unit and several electronic management systems.
This high number of inspections was not accidental. Under the current regulations, teams were permitted to continue refining the software installed on the ECU until the fourth Grand Prix of the season. Consequently, the FIA paid particularly close attention to software-related elements once this development window came to an end. Beginning with the Montreal weekend, the FIA also started officially tracking the number of software versions used for the F1 Team Applications, ECU PU Applications and ERS and PU-CE Applications.
According to Article C8.1.8 of Issue 19 of the Technical Regulations, teams are permitted a maximum of five software releases during the 2026 Formula 1 season. This limitation is designed to prevent continuous software development throughout the championship while ensuring greater standardisation and stability across the grid.
Software management has become one of the most technically demanding areas of modern Formula 1. As electronic systems control increasingly sophisticated hybrid power units, energy deployment strategies and active aerodynamic functions, ensuring that every software update complies with the regulations has become just as important as verifying the legality of mechanical components.
In total, Ferrari’s cars underwent 61 targeted technical inspections up to and including the British Grand Prix. This figure underlines just how frequently the Ferrari SF-26 has been selected for specific technical examinations throughout the opening part of the season. It also illustrates the confidence the FIA has in its inspection procedures, as every one of these targeted checks ultimately confirmed that the Ferrari remained fully compliant with the regulations.
Turning to Mercedes, the overall picture is broadly similar, although the total number of inspections is slightly lower. Only George Russell’s Mercedes was selected for an extensive post-race physical inspection during the Australian Grand Prix. That inspection represented the most detailed examination carried out on a Mercedes car during the opening races of the season.
It should also be noted that, on several occasions, the FIA did not publish the corresponding inspection report, something that has also happened during previous Formula 1 seasons. While this does not necessarily indicate any irregularities, it does reduce the level of transparency available to teams, journalists and fans who closely follow the governing body’s technical activities.
From a transparency standpoint, the absence of some inspection reports is far from ideal, particularly considering the growing public interest in Formula 1’s technical regulations and the increasing level of scrutiny surrounding the championship’s leading teams. When combining all the inspections carried out on the Mercedes W17 cars driven by Kimi Antonelli and George Russell, the data shows that 23 different types of technical checks were performed, resulting in a total of 56 targeted inspections up to the Silverstone round.
Although Mercedes has undergone slightly fewer inspections than Ferrari, the difference is relatively small. Both teams have been subjected to an extensive number of technical examinations throughout the opening nine races, reflecting their status as front-running contenders and the FIA’s determination to monitor every important technical area.
An interesting trend also emerges when looking specifically at aerodynamic inspections. The cars that dominated the opening part of the season were subjected to aerodynamic and bodywork inspections in five of the first nine races. This demonstrates the FIA’s continued focus on areas like bodywork flexibility, aerodynamic compliance and the operation of active aerodynamic systems, all of which have become increasingly important under the current generation of Formula 1 regulations.
What makes this particularly noteworthy is that Mercedes has not introduced upgrades at every race weekend. Instead, the team has chosen a more conservative development strategy, preferring to introduce one major upgrade package rather than bringing small updates on a continuous basis.
That significant package made its debut at the Canadian Grand Prix and has since become the primary specification of the Mercedes W17. Despite this measured development approach, the FIA has continued to carry out frequent aerodynamic and bodywork inspections on the Mercedes, highlighting that inspection frequency is not determined solely by the arrival of new upgrades.
Overall, the data collected from the FIA’s official technical reports paints a fascinating picture of how closely Formula 1’s leading teams are monitored throughout the season. Ferrari has undergone slightly more targeted inspections than Mercedes, with 61 checks compared to 56, while both teams have successfully passed every examination conducted so far. Perhaps the most significant conclusion is that, after the opening nine races of the championship, every inspected car has been found fully compliant with the FIA Technical Regulations.
That consistency not only validates the work carried out by the teams’ engineers but also reinforces the effectiveness of the FIA’s technical inspection process, which continues to play a fundamental role in maintaining fairness, transparency and sporting integrity across the Formula 1 grid.
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