Honda and Alpine are fined for financial irregularities

The FIA ​​​​announced that Honda and Alpine motorists who violate financial regulations will have to pay very high fines.

In anticipation of the transition to new technical rules for engines, which will come into force in 2026, financial restrictions will also apply to power unit manufacturers from 2023.

Last month we reported that the FIA’s Cost Cap Administration, in reviewing the financials of engine manufacturers (Mercedes, Ferrari, Honda and Alpine), found that none of them exceeded the allowable limit for 2023 costs, but Alpine Racing SAS and Honda Racing Corporation committed procedural violations.

Now the federation has announced its verdict: Japanese motorists were fined $400,000, French (Alpine cars have engines produced in Viry-Chatillon under the Renault brand) – $400,000.

Both engine manufacturers agreed to the violations identified and signed the relevant documents confirming this.

The following follows from the FIA ​​press release:

– Both companies actively cooperated with regulatory authorities and provided additional documentation in a timely manner upon their request.

– During the inspections no evidence of deliberate actions by motorists came to light, no attempts were made to mislead FIA inspectors or conceal information from them.

“There is also no evidence that the violations identified could have provided Honda and Alpine with any benefit.

– A sort of mitigating factor is the fact that 2023 would be the first year in which power plant suppliers would operate under financial constraints.

The federation also shared information that the procedural violations committed by Honda and Alpine differ in nature. The annual accounts submitted by the French company on April 2, 2024 were compiled with significant irregularities.

“Some of the required procedures have not been completed at all, and some others have only been partially completed,” the FIA ​​press release said.

A corrected version of the report was provided on May 7, but since the documentation initially lacked very important information, this already qualifies as a regulatory violation, for which a $400,000 fine was imposed.

Furthermore, this violation is not directly related to the nature and extent of Alpine’s costs. It is worth recalling that Formula 1 will no longer have Renault power plants in 2026, as the French concern decided to curtail its production program, and for the first time in its history customer engines, in this case Mercedes, will be on appear on the market. factory team cars.

As far as Honda is concerned, the violations in this case were due to the fact that the costs included in the annual accounts had been incorrectly calculated.

In particular, the cost of maintaining the stands used for engine testing was not included and in some cases the costs were underestimated, but the FIA ​​did not specify what exactly was discussed. But when the Japanese company corrected the identified errors, it turned out that the total expenditure level had not been exceeded, so it is believed that the violation was procedural in nature.

In addition, both violators of financial regulations will have to compensate for the costs incurred by CCA in working with them.