Home F1 FIA lists Aston Martin, Red Bull in cost cap breach; penalty not...

FIA, F1 — SUZUKA, JAPAN - OCTOBER 09: Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (1) Oracle Red Bull Racing RB18 and Charles Leclerc of Monaco driving the (16) Ferrari F1-75 lead the field off the line at the start during the F1 Grand Prix of Japan at Suzuka International Racing Course on October 09, 2022 in Suzuka, Japan. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images ) // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool // SI202210090220 // Usage for editorial use only //

FIA lists Aston Martin, Red Bull in cost cap breach; penalty not fixed

10/10/2022

The FIA has found procedural breach for Aston Martin and Red Bull, while the latter have had minor overspend under F1 Cost Cap regulation.

The Singapore GP weekend was rocked by reports of F1 cost cap breach by Red Bull and Aston Martin. The FIA released a statement putting down unfounded news about the governing body being involved in leaks of any kind.

The release was supposed to be out last Wednesday but the FIA deferred it until today (Monday) after the Japanese GP weekend. There was clear situation of interpretation coming out when asked to several F1 team bosses over the weekend.

Since the F1 cost cap is a brand new regulation, every team is in a learning game along with the FIA and as is with the other regulations in the sport, there are loopholes which are only discovered at the time of breaches by any team.

With the review now complete, the FIA revealed details of their findings in terms of the teams involved. Like it was reported two weeks back, both Red Bull and Aston Martin have been found in ‘Procedural’ breaches when filing the 2021 financial statement.

Additionally, Red Bull have been found to have minor overspending breach too (less than 5%), while the FIA reminded about the breach that Williams were involved in where the F1 team co-operated with the governing body in solving the matter.

Other seven F1 outfits have been given a clean chit in a relief to them, as the FIA and the Cost Cap Administration are now in the process of deciding the course of action against Red Bull and Aston Martin for the breaches they have committed.

Here’s the full statement from the FIA:

The FIA confirms that its Cost Cap Administration has now completed the review of the Reporting Documentation submitted by each Competitor that participated in the 2021 FIA Formula One World Championship in respect of the 2021 Reporting Period ending on 31 December 2021.

The FIA Cost Cap Administration has issued certificates of compliance to seven of the ten Competitors:

Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team is considered to be in Procedural Breach of the Financial Regulations;
Oracle Red Bull Racing is considered to be in Procedural and Minor Overspend Breaches of the Financial Regulations; and
Williams Racing has complied with the Financial Regulations in respect of the 2021 Reporting Period with the exception of a previous Procedural Breach (in regard to which the Cost Cap Administration entered into an ABA with Williams in May 2022. This Procedural Breach was then remediated by Williams in a timely, cooperative and transparent manner).

The review of the Reporting Documentation submitted has been an intensive and thorough process, and all Competitors gave their full support in providing the required information to assess their financial situation during this first year of the Financial Regulations. The FIA Cost Cap Administration notes that all Competitors acted at all times in a spirit of good faith and cooperation throughout the process.

The FIA would also note that with respect to this first year of the application of the Financial Regulations the intervention of the FIA Cost Cap Administration has been limited to reviewing the submissions made by the Competitors and that no full formal investigations were launched.

The FIA Cost Cap Administration is currently determining the appropriate course of action to be taken under the Financial Regulations with respect to Aston Martin and Red Bull and further information will be communicated in compliance with the Regulations.

The FIA additionally also explained the procedural and minor overpsend breach:

Procedural Breaches can result in Financial Penalties and/or Minor Sporting Penalties (in case of aggravating factors) as detailed in the Financial Regulation. Minor Overspend breach (<5% Cost Cap) can result in Financial Penalties and/or Minor Sporting Penalties. Only a Material Overspend breach (>5% Cost Cap) if confirmed before the Cost Cap Adjudication Panel will result in a mandatory Constructors’ Championship points deductions and can result in additional Financial Penalties and/or Material Sporting Penalties.

UPDATE: Following the release from the FIA, Red Bull stated that they actually were under the cost cap when they filed their financial statements. But with the FIA’s assessment, they will go through their filing again and co-operate with them.