Full FIA report on Red Bull F1 cost cap breach and penalty

Here is the FIA’s report in full:

An Accepted Breach Agreement (“ABA”) dated 26 October 2022 has been entered into by the Cost Cap Administration and Red Bull Racing F1 Team (“RBR”) pursuant to Article 6.28 of the FIA Formula 1 Financial Regulations (“Financial Regulations”). The Financial Regulations are issued by the FIA and form part of the terms and conditions of participation in the FIA Formula One World Championship.

The Cost Cap Administration recognised that RBR has acted cooperatively throughout the review process and has sought to provide additional information and evidence when requested in a timely manner, that this is the first year of the full application of the Financial Regulations which are a very complex set of rules that competitors were required to adapt to and that there is no accusation or evidence that RBR has sought at any time to act in bad faith, dishonestly or in a fraudulent manner, nor has it wilfully concealed any information from the Cost Cap Administration.

The Cost Cap Administration considered it appropriate, in these circumstances, to offer to RBR an ABA to resolve this matter on the terms set out below, given the limited nature of the Procedural Breach in issue and the fact that the Minor Overspend Breach falls at the lower end of the <5% minor overspend range, and RBR’s willingness to accept the breaches and to cooperate with the Cost Cap Administration. That offer was accepted by RBR.

The ABA concerns:

• RBR’s submitted Relevant Costs reported in its 2021 Full Year Reporting Documentation of £114,293,000;
• Subsequent to the findings of the Cost Cap Administration, a Procedural Breach committed by RBR pursuant to Article 8.2(e) of the Financial Regulations due to the submission of inaccurate Full Year Reporting Documentation in respect of the Full Year Reporting Period ending on 31 December 2021 because it inaccurately excluded and/or adjusted costs amounting to a total of £5,607,000 in its 2021 Full Year Reporting Documentation; and
• Consequently, a Minor Overspend Breach committed by RBR under Article 8.10(b) of the Financial Regulations because its Relevant Costs, as adjusted by the FIA, exceeded the 2021 Cost Cap of £118,036,000 by less than 5%, namely by £1,864,000 (i.e., 1.6%).

Summary of ABA terms and sanctions

In accordance with the findings of the Cost Cap Administration, RBR has acknowledged that the Reporting Documentation submitted by it included the…