FIA has not yet punished Red Bull and Aston Martin

On October 10, the first results of the financial audit, which the FIA’s Budget Control department has been working on since March, were released on October 10, which analyzes the 2021 financial statements provided by the Formula 1 teams.

Numerous rumors preceded the publication of the federation’s press release that several teams, including Red Bull Racing, had broken the financial rules. These rumors were so actively discussed that the FIA ​​rushed to declare them unfounded and offered to wait for official information.

It is clear from this that the so-called “certificates of conformity” were only issued to seven teams, as for the other three, ie Red Bull Racing, Aston Martin and Williams, “the FIA’s Budget Management Department determines the next steps to be taken … and further information will be published in accordance with the regulations.”

Someone will probably be disappointed, someone will find this approach too liberal, because the motorsport press has been talking for over a week about how harsh the penalty will be if, for example, it turns out that Red Bull Racing has spent nearly $10 million more than its closest rivals.

But the FIA ​​report states that the fact of cost overrun had indeed been established but was of a minor nature. So there are no horrific penalties to be expected (and the regulations provide for more than severe penalties, from monetary penalties to exclusion from the championship), but the intrigue remains.

The federation has chosen not to provide detailed information about the nature of the violations, but in theory the team can withhold points even for minor violations. But experts say it won’t come to that. But there are other measures, for example, violators in particular can limit the time they work in a wind tunnel, prevent them from participating in some tests or cut the budget for the following year.

Team budgets in 2021 were capped at $145 million for the first time, plus additional costs related to running sprint races and if the number of stages in the season exceeded 21 (which happened, as there were 22 races in the season) were taken into account. goods) .

Williams became the first team to commit violations, although not of a financial nature: the team simply provided the required documentation late, for which it was fined $25,000.

Red Bull Racing’s cost overrun is a much more serious case. While the financial rules divide these types of violations into two categories, “major” and “minor”, representatives for Mercedes and Ferrari said over the weekend in Singapore that this is flawed terminology that does not take into account the advantage the team can gain from any additional expenses.

In their view, the additional $4 million allows additional forces, for example several dozen qualified specialists, to be involved in the development or modernization of the machine, paying them a salary throughout the season. In addition, if there is a cost overrun in 2021, the benefit will be long-lasting and manifest over three seasons.

Be that as it may, the FIA ​​promised to publish some additional information over time, which should clarify something. While there are no formal sanctions against regulatory violators, this probably isn’t appropriate for their rivals.