As required by article 5.1 of the new Financial Regulations implemented in Formula 1 last year, teams have until March 31, 2022 to submit the complete documentation for the 2021 financial year. Nevertheless, the FIA has just revealed that Williams didn’t. The Grove team was made aware of the violation in April by the federation and has worked with them to rectify the situation. Williams eventually entered into an Accepted Breach Agreement (ABA) with the FIA, meaning the team admitted wrongdoing and agreed to pay a $25,000 fine.
A press release states: “After reviewing Williams’ explanations and considering that the procedural breach was voluntarily disclosed by Williams prior to the March 31, 2022 deadline and that Williams has been fully cooperative in rectifying the breach, the budget cap administration deemed it appropriate to offer an ABA to Williams. This proposal was accepted by Williams.”
“The Budget Cap Administration’s decision to resolve the breach by the aforementioned ABA shall be its final decision and not subject to appeal. Failure by Williams to comply with any term of the ABA will result in a further breach of procedure under Articles 6.30 and 8.2(f) of the Financial Regulations and automatic referral to the Budget Cap Adjudication Board.”
Nicholas Latifi with Williams in Monaco.
“Budget Cap Administration confirms that, as of the date hereof, Williams has, within the time specified, cured the breach of procedure, paid the financial penalty, and assumed the costs incurred by Budget Cap Administration in the part of the preparation of the ABA.”
The budget cap, the focal point of the F1 Financial Regulations, limits a team’s spending over the course of a season. This year, the cap has been lowered to $140 million, which is putting some teams in trouble taking inflation into account.
Recently, Christian Horner, director of Red Bull Racing, said his team could be forced to miss several races if the cap was not increased. Mattia Binotto, head of the Scuderia Ferrarimeanwhile warned that there was no “no way” for the Prancing Horse to respect the ceiling this yearbeing ready to face the consequences.