Red Bull makes minor F1 cost cap breach, Aston Martin infringes procedural rules

Following intense speculation since the Singapore Grand Prix that two squads had been found to have spent more than the circa $145 million limit in 2021, motor racing’s governing body formally published its findings on Monday.

In a statement, it said that all teams had been issued with their compliance certificates apart from Red Bull, Aston Martin and Williams.

The Williams breach was in reference to the late submission of files last year, which the team was fined for.

Aston Martin was deemed to be in procedural breach of the rules, while Red Bull was said to have both a procedural and minor overspend breach.

The FIA’s belief that Red Bull broke the spending limit comes despite the team having expressed confidence that the financial submission it made last March was comfortably under the limit.

Speaking at the recent Singapore Grand Prix, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said that he had faith his squad had fully complied with the rules.

“I’m absolutely confident in our submission,” he said. “It’s been through a process. It went in in March, in terms of [being] signed off fully by our auditors who are obviously one of the big three. And we believe that we are comfortably within the cap.

“So the FIA are following their process. We expect hopefully, and potentially this week, to hear not just us, but all of the teams, the outcome of that process.”

F1’s regulations lay out a range of options as punishment for teams that have breached the cost cap.

For a minor breach, which is less than 5% overspend, penalties can include a public reprimand, a deduction of constructors’ or drivers’ championship points, exclusion from events, limitations on aero testing or a fine.

Red Bull’s overspend will prompt increased scrutiny on how the FIA deals with the matter, with several outfits suggesting the matter will be a test case for the success of the cost cap.

Should the FIA opt for a harsher punishment on the Milton Keynes-based squad then it could be viewed as unfair considering how new the cost cap regulations are and how everyone is trying to understand them at this stage.

In Aston Martin’s case there was no overspend, as the review indicates, and the team is understood to be keen to stress that no competitive advantage was gained.

The procedural breach appears to be related to a number of accounting protocols, and the result of variations in interpreting…