Williams F1 team fined for financial rules procedure breach

The FIA said Williams had failed to submit its complete full year reporting documentation from 2021 by the 31 March 2022 deadline, as required by article 5.1 of the sport’s financial regulations introduced in 2021.

Williams was notified of the breach in April by the FIA’s Cost Cap Administration, and the Grove team dully collaborated with the FIA in order to rectify the breach.

The governing body said the team had entered into an ABA (Accepted Breach Agreement) that translated into a $25,000 fine.

The FIA said in a statement: “Having considered Williams’ explanation and given in particular that the Procedural Breach was voluntarily disclosed by Williams in advance of the Full Year Reporting Deadline of 31 March 2022 and Williams has been fully cooperative in seeking to remedy the breach, the Cost Cap Administration deemed it appropriate to offer Williams an ABA resolving the breach on the terms set out below. That offer was accepted by Williams.”

According to the FIA, Williams also agreed to remediate the procedural breach by no later than 31 May 2022, and to “bear the costs incurred by the Cost Cap Administration in connection with the preparation of the ABA”.

“The decision of the Cost Cap Administration to enter into the above-mentioned ABA constitutes its final decision resolving the matter and is not subject to appeal,” the statement added.

“Non-compliance by Williams with any terms of the ABA will result in a further Procedural Breach under Articles 6.30 and 8.2(f) of the Financial Regulations and automatic referral to the Cost Cap Adjudication Panel.

“The Cost Cap Administration confirms that, as of the date hereof, Williams has within the specified deadline remediated the Procedural Breach, paid the Financial Penalty, and bore the costs incurred by the Cost Cap Administration in connection with the preparation of the ABA.”

The current budget cap introduced in 2022 is $140m for the…