In F1, there are discussions about reducing gardening leave, the period during which an engineer must remain inactive (ranging from six months to a year, depending on their role) to prevent them from transferring industrial secrets or winning solutions from one team to another. In the world of GPs, the wait time, including negotiations and gardening leave, can reach up to two years, which is an extremely long period for a team principal wanting to reshape his team.
However, the phenomenon of technicians with “briefcases” full of industrial secrets is not limited to motorsport teams but extends to the less visible world of suppliers, where the protections that the F1 system provides constructors unfortunately do not exist.
Sparco, headquartered in Volpiano near Turin, has been producing fireproof clothing (including Max Verstappen’s suit) for 47 years and has expanded its activities into the broader field of racing safety, where high homologation standards are required. These standards result from significant investments in research and development and years of hard work.
The company’s know-how is built over time, and it’s unacceptable for unfaithful former employees to “steal” technological secrets to provide them to competitors, often unknown companies created solely to gain homologation before the industry leader.
It’s an “underground” battle with few protections: Niccolò Bellazzini, Sparco’s brand manager and a board member, sounds an alarm that goes beyond recent reports of espionage and file stealing uncovered by the National Anti-Mafia Prosecutor’s Office, thanks to Milan’s DDA.
In Sparco’s case, the company’s security system was not “breached” to copy designs, innovative solutions, or sensitive data; rather, there was the unfaithful behavior of some young employees who took knowledge acquired at Volpiano with them. “The issue doesn’t concern us alone,” explains Bellazzini. “People hired on permanent contracts left us suddenly, citing personal issues unrelated to work, only to reappear, sometimes through intermediaries, with innovative solutions we had spent a long time developing, with competitors that sprang up out of nowhere and without any track record.”
“For a couple of years, we’ve been filing complaints after they took data, designs, and innovative solutions. We’ve initiated lawsuits, but the judicial authorities do not act with urgency. As a result, there are no effective and swift enforcement tools.”
Niccolò Bellazzini has started an awareness campaign within the company because most of the 800 employees are young and may not fully understand certain behaviors. “The gravest issue is that in some cases, corporate secrets are stolen with premeditation, while in others, there’s an attitude where team leaders of a project act as if the intellectual property belongs to them.”
“The truth is this: it must be clear that all know-how developed at Sparco belongs solely to the company. It cannot be overlooked that behind R&D activities are significant investments that only a company of our size can afford.”
The issue of employee loyalty becomes strategic. “We pay substantial salaries to our technicians and engineers in the various R&D departments. These are mostly young employees, recruited from universities or technical institutes without any specific training or expertise. Only through considerable investment in human capital have they acquired important skills over time. The fact that innovative solutions could be used for personal gain, or worse, sold to competitors, is very serious. Turnover is high, and unfortunately, these behaviors have become frequent.”
Sparco is a solid and sufficiently large company to withstand these attacks, but even those who had the privilege of participating in the F1 series have discovered how quickly a “dream” can disappear. Bellazzini has started informing employees about the proper conduct expected of them, but he hopes that brands exposed to illegal behavior will be better protected by laws that currently do not exist.
Leave a Reply