Budget cap case 2021: late afternoon verdict expected

6:20: Confirmed: Red Bull have been found guilty of a ‘minor’ breach of Formula One’s financial rules. You can read the full report here

[Update 4:45 pm] – As we wait for the official document that should soon be released by the FIA, there is an update from Daily Mail. According to the British media outlet, Red Bull would be – the conditional is a must – in a “minor” breach of the budget cap set for 2021. The exact amount may not be specified in the communication expected to be released in about 15 minutes. For Aston Martin, a “procedural” infringement should be indicated. As a sanction, the British newspaper remains vague, speaking of a possible fine. Finally, any appeals could even increase the sanctions and therefore, at present, they would seem to be unlikely.
Other sources confirm that the federal document will be published within the next hour and that it will contain an indication of any infringements, but not of the related sanctions.

15:00 – Sky Sport reported this morning that the FIA verdict could arrive around 5pm. In the last few minutes, some foreign sources have speculated that it could arrive at 6pm.

14:10 – Everything is silent at the FIA headquarters. In last Wednesday’s statement, the Federation spoke of “a long and complex process” …

12:20 – Also from Holland (GP Fans NL) they report that the Federation could release updates only in the afternoon.

11:35 – Sky Sport colleagues report that the FIA’s decision could come around 5 pm.

[Update 11:00 am] – In the morning, the Federation confirmed that updates regarding the certifications for the 2021 budget cap are expected today, most likely in the late afternoon. In the past few hours, FIA vice president for sport Robert Reid spoke to Autosport about the matter: “The unfortunate aspect is that there have been numerous allegations. I don’t know the numbers, but if there are any violations, I think everyone knows they could also be classified as procedural or minor or material, as happened in Williams’ recent past. But I repeat that we do not know if there have been infringements, procedural or overrun of the spending cap, so let’s wait and see ”.

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The reference figure for the FIA regarding the cost control is the Italian Federico Lodi, who in the past held the role of CFO for Toro Rosso from May 2012 to October 2014. Lodi has been in the Federation since December 2018, where has assumed the position of “Head of Financial Regulations (Formula 1 and Formula E)”, and is therefore responsible for the development, management, implementation and monitoring of the financial regulations framework for Formula 1 and Formula E.

The budget case cap. In recent weeks, rumors have filtered out about an alleged failure to comply with the spending limit for the 2021 season by some teams, rumors that have not found any official confirmation from the FIA - which twice described everything as’ allegations and conjectures’. As is known and as explained in the financial regulations, the ten teams participating in the championship had to limit expenses to 145 million dollars, the maximum figure established by the FIA. The total calculation did not include expenses relating to the salaries of the drivers, the three top managers, the costs of marketing, logistics, travel, registration fees, non-F1 activities and legal affairs.

Any penalties will be proportional to the extent of the overshoot, and are essentially divided into minor infringements (quantified in 5% of the total) or established, and range from the subtraction of points on the 2021 ranking to fines, to the deduction of development hours or a lowering of the budget for the following season, up to exclusion from races and championships, obviously in the most serious cases.

It is no mystery that in recent days there has been a lot of talk about Red Bull and Aston Martin as possible teams involved in the alleged infringements, with the teams that have not confirmed these rumors, declaring themselves calm about the accounts presented to the Cost Cap Administration, created by the FIA to handle the whole affair.

The analysis turned out to be “a long and complex process”, as explained in a note from the Federation, so much so that it has already been postponed on three occasions (30 September, 3 October, 5 October) and should lead to – the conditional is mandatory – in a communication in which the teams that have managed to obtain the certification of suitability regarding the financial statements will be announced.