As many as three teams may have failed to follow F1’s financial limitations regulations, as the paddock is set for a repeat of 2022.
Late in 2022, the FIA punished Red Bull and Aston Martin for breaching the budget cap regulations.
Recently, F1’s CEO Stefano Domenicali called for sporting penalties for future infringements rather than financial penalties, although it is up to the FIA to decide on any punishments
Now, three further teams are said to be under investigation for failing to abide by the cost cap, according to media reports.
“Control is in the hands of the FIA.” Domenicali said to Motorsport.com. “Personally, what I have asked is to anticipate as soon as possible the publications of the investigations made by the staff of the FIA.
“I hope it can do so as soon as possible, but I say this only because in this way, it does not give rise to speculation and comments that are not good for anyone.”
What happened in 2022?
Aston Martin and Williams received fines for procedural errors last season but were found not to have gone over the limit, while Red Bull was penalised for an overspend amounting to $1.4m – $400k of which was on the catering budget.
The majority of the infringement in 2022 (for the 2021 season) related to a tax break that Red Bull was not granted by the UK tax authorities.
As a result, Red Bull received a $7m fine, that they could not appeal, and lost 10% of their wind-tunnel and computational fluid dynamics time allocations for the season beginning in 2024.
Those limits come on top of already having less time due to winning the Constructor’s Championship.
Possible penalties for breaching the regulations can include points deductions or even disqualification from both Championships depending on the severity of the offence, and of course, further restrictions on development time as Red Bull has discovered.
Many teams were incensed at Red Bull’s infraction and subsequent penalty, believing that it was not harsh enough to mitigate the advantage gained in 2021 and 2022, and Ferrari has continued this argument into 2023.
