The governing body has finally announced the results of its checks on teams’ compliance with budget cap rules, which permitted teams to spend up to $145million during the 2021 Formula 1 campaign.
Teams in compliance: Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren, Alpine, AlphaTauri, Alfa Romeo, Williams, Haas
Teams in procedural breach: Aston Martin
Teams in procedural and minor overspend breach: Red Bull
The other team to have a procedural breach was Williams earlier this year, and the team entered into an Accepted Breach Agreement (ABA) with the FIA for being late with its submission in March, paying a $25,000 fine.
To be clear, Aston Martin is also under the 2021 budget cap according to the FIA. Red Bull the only team with any sort of overspend (at less than 5% over).
Penalty-wise, a minor overspend breach will either lead to an Accepted Breach Agreement between the FIA and Red Bull that will be published, or if Red Bull doesn’t agree with the settlement (or the Cost Cap Administration chooses) the Cost Cap Adjudication Panel will decide
“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 statement informs.
“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”
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Red Bull’s overspending will lead to increased scrutiny on how the FIA appraoches this topic, with many outfits suggesting the matter will be a test case for the success of the Formula 1 rules regarding the cost cap.
Ferrari and Mercedes are worried that FIA will not come down hard on the Milton Keynes-based squad because it may be viewed as unfair as Red Bull can argue how new the cost cap regulations are and how everyone is trying to understand them at this moment.
In a recent interview during the Suzuka weekend, Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto felt it was better for the FIA to be too harsh than try to brush the matter under the carpet, given the importance of the rules in terms of on-track performance:
“What’s important for us is whatever will be the breach, if any breach, the penalty has to be significant, because believe me, that our cars today in Japan tried to fight for the best position. These are cars that have been developed maintaining, respecting the budget cap itself, and we know how much, even if it’s a minor breach, how much it would have implied in terms of performance. I mentioned five million is about half a second, even one or two million is about one or two-tenths which is about from being second on the grid or being on pole and maybe having the fastest car. Obviously it’s about 2021, and from 2021 it’s an advantage you gain over the following seasons. I think what we need and what I’m expecting is full transparency and clarity on the discussions that may have happened.” – the Ferrari boss pointed out.
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