Aston Martin surprised to be on offenders list

The summary of the 2021 financial audit released yesterday by the FIA ​​named three financial regulation violators who have not received the so-called “certificates of compliance” – these are Aston Martin, Red Bull Racing and Williams. .

And it is only with the latter that it is clear what the violation is: the team from Grove submitted the annual accounts too late, for which they were already fined 25,000 dollars in May. As for the other two teams, their sins are not equal as only Red Bull Racing allowed the cost overruns, but the FIA’s budget control committee is in no rush to publish additional details and promises to do so at a later date.

When the first information about the results of the audit came to the press in the days of the Singapore race weekend, a wave of rumours erupted; Representatives from Mercedes and Ferrari spoke openly of serious violations by Red Bull, but Aston Martin was also mentioned, albeit with the caveat that his violations were not as significant.

But yesterday’s statement from the federation revealed that this team has only committed “procedural violations” – according to The Race, we are only talking about some errors that have crept into the financial documentation. Therefore, it is beyond suspicion to gain any advantage, which in theory entails additional costs for the development or modernization of the machine.

However, Aston Martin F1 boss Mike Krak is surprised that his team’s name is on the list of financial rule violators at all: “We were surprised to read our name on this list. We do not believe that we have taken wrong actions. It’s disappointing, although we don’t worry too much.”

It must be assumed that, first of all, the management of the team is upset by the fact that it has not received a certificate of conformity, although the violations found are only formal.

But if Red Bull has been commenting very loudly for more than a week on the situation caused by spending cap allegations, and even threatening to sue those who spread such rumors for defamation, Aston Martin remains calm and refrains from doing so. official statements.

Presumably they understand that yesterday’s FIA report confirms the team’s sins are insignificant, so there is nothing to worry about. Nevertheless, everyone is waiting for the federation to announce some measures taken against violators of the rules, and it can be assumed that in the case of Aston Martin they will be enough for its omissions, ie minimal. And the real offender, who has exceeded the cost, is still one, and this is Red Bull Racing.