2021 Cost Cap Rumours and Speculation

[chrisc90]

That’s what I mean. If teams believe that a small over spend will give you an advantage for 4 years down the line you would be silly not to take that option.

You'd be silly not cheat?

Another way to look at it, if you cut a corner by the smallest amounts, and gained say 7 seconds over the whole race, but the penalty for it was only 5 seconds…you’d either gain 7seconds overall or be up 2 seconds.

[basti313]

I guess there will be no free food for the remainder of the races at the RBR garage this year... and no more paid sick leave until 2023.

The big question is rather, what did they feed to Verstappen? Maybe this is the reason for his success? This would be highly unfair. Just think about Raikkonen and how much a yacht, ice cream and free drinks would have boosted his results.
There is no question that under this point Merc lacked behind and made so many errors.

[e30ernest]

Looks like the FIA have officially made their announcement :

https://www.fia.com/news/fia-completes- ... egulations

Site is down for me though.

[Roo]

Prudence principle out the window in all but one team?

[mendis]

So finally it's official now. After all, as always, it actually was true that where is smoke, there is fire.

Considering Alfa Romeo for example have 2.4 million dollars for in-season-development available, one can only think of the possibilities in terms of performance gain when you overshoot the budget cap by up to 2 millions.


Fred Vasseur:

You have to understand that sometimes with €200,000 you can bring a big update. And if you overshoot the budget by this, it's a couple of tenths for more than one race.

Otmar Szafnauer:

At the margin, any spend above the margin is spent on performance: And once you start spending on performance where others don't get a chance to, because they've actually stuck to the budget cap, that's serious.

I didn't know spending for catering/absenteesm can also provide performance to the car.

[e30ernest]

Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team is considered to be in Procedural Breach of the Financial Regulations;
Oracle Red Bull Racing is considered to be in Procedural and Minor Overspend Breaches of the Financial Regulations; and
Williams Racing has complied with the Financial Regulations in respect of the 2021 Reporting Period with the exception of a previous Procedural Breach in regard to which the Cost Cap Administration entered into an ABA with Williams in May 2022. This Procedural Breach was then remediated by Williams in a timely, cooperative and transparent manner.

[LM10]

On the assumption that this info is reasonably accurate (which it may not be), then there has to be a significant penalty, otherwise we end with an unofficial cost cap that’s slightly higher than the official one. In the same way that we all drive a bit over the speed limit, knowing we won’t get prosecuted if we don’t take the piss. If 1mph over got you a ban, you’d never speed.

If £Xm penalty buys you say 0.5secs and potentially a championship, say, I'm sure there are many teams that would happily pay that!

That’s what I mean. If teams believe that a small over spend will give you an advantage for 4 years down the line you would be silly not to take that option. (There is of course no guarantee that RB did overspend on the RB18/2022 season of course)

I don’t agree with overspending, just to put that on record.

When the rules are that ‘loose’ on terms of penalties, especially those that carry forward to the next season, you have to sit down and seriously think is it worth the risk of spending that little bit extra, if it means you make more progress than you otherwise would have

Bringing arguments that cheating might be the way to go is a pretty low.

Do you even know what that means? The title win of Max in 2021 and 2022 suddenly is much less worth as both were won by an illegal car - obviously not in terms of technical regulations, but in terms of how much performance was put in.

[morefirejules08]

Back to the risk vs reward scenario then….

All depends if the punishment/fine fits the risk of a overspend.

Also slightly concerning how this information has been leaked before the results have come out.

Oh and also, it’s ok to cheat providing you gain more than you potentially lose?

As I mentioned previously in the thread, if the penalty doesn’t fit the problem then it’s worth doing in my opinion.

Of course it’s against the rules to over spend, but the punishments for doing so aren’t exactly fitting for doing so. I did mention the only realistic ones that can be applied are a reprimand or a financial penalty.

The other sanctions aren’t really going to be used when your almost finished the season AFTER the reporting period for 2021

So in your opinion Redbull cheating is absolutely fine.

[Quantum]

That’s what I mean. If teams believe that a small over spend will give you an advantage for 4 years down the line you would be silly not to take that option.

You'd be silly not cheat?

Another way to look at it, if you cut a corner by the smallest amounts, and gained say 7 seconds over the whole race, but the penalty for it was only 5 seconds…you’d either gain 7seconds overall or be up 2 seconds.

You'd be cheating.

And your lap would be chalked off or a position handed back.

That's the penalty for cheating.

[e30ernest]

So finally it's official now. After all, as always, it actually was true that where is smoke, there is fire.

Considering Alfa Romeo for example have 2.4 million dollars for in-season-development available, one can only think of the possibilities in terms of performance gain when you overshoot the budget cap by up to 2 millions.


Fred Vasseur:

You have to understand that sometimes with €200,000 you can bring a big update. And if you overshoot the budget by this, it's a couple of tenths for more than one race.

Otmar Szafnauer:

At the margin, any spend above the margin is spent on performance: And once you start spending on performance where others don't get a chance to, because they've actually stuck to the budget cap, that's serious.

I didn't know spending for catering/absenteesm can also provide performance to the car.

Other teams were able to stay in budget despite having to spend on catering and absenteeism too. They did that by spending less on their car.

That's not an excuse.

[mendis]

https://www.fia.com/news/fia-completes- ... egulations

FIA COMPLETES REVIEW UNDER THE 2021 FIA FORMULA 1 FINANCIAL REGULATIONS
10.10.22
• Nine teams confirmed under the 2021 Cost Cap Level

• Aston Martin in Procedural Breach

• Red Bull Racing in Procedural and Minor Overspend Breaches

The FIA confirms that its Cost Cap Administration has now completed the review of the Reporting Documentation submitted by each Competitor that participated in the 2021 FIA Formula One World Championship in respect of the 2021 Reporting Period ending on 31 December 2021.

The FIA Cost Cap Administration has issued certificates of compliance to seven of the ten Competitors:

Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team is considered to be in Procedural Breach of the Financial Regulations;

Oracle Red Bull Racing is considered to be in Procedural and Minor Overspend Breaches of the Financial Regulations; and Williams Racing has complied with the Financial Regulations in respect of the 2021 Reporting Period with the exception of a previous Procedural Breach in regard to which the Cost Cap Administration entered into an ABA with Williams in May 2022. This Procedural Breach was then remediated by Williams in a timely, cooperative and transparent manner.

The review of the Reporting Documentation submitted has been an intensive and thorough process, and all Competitors gave their full support in providing the required information to assess their financial situation during this first year of the Financial Regulations. The FIA Cost Cap Administration notes that all Competitors acted at all times in a spirit of good faith and cooperation throughout the process.

The FIA would also note that with respect to this first year of the application of the Financial Regulations the intervention of the FIA Cost Cap Administration has been limited to reviewing the submissions made by the Competitors and that no full formal investigations were launched.

The FIA Cost Cap Administration is currently determining the appropriate course of action to be taken under the Financial Regulations with respect to Aston Martin and Red Bull and further information will be communicated in compliance with the Regulations.

Note to Editors

Financial Regulations were introduced in the FIA Formula One World Championship from the 2021 season following unanimous approval of the Competitors. The intention of the Financial Regulations is to limit spending in the Championship to ensure the long-term viability of the Championship and encourage convergence in performance between Competitors, thus creating more exciting racing.

The regulations are highly complex, reflecting the complexity of the sport as a whole. The process whereby the submissions of the Competitors are then audited by the FIA Cost Cap Administration requires a significant amount of work, which has been carried out in the time anticipated by the FIA. This is analogous to the timeframe seen in other major sporting competitions.

The Cost Cap Administration is responsible for administering, monitoring compliance with the Financial Regulations, investigating instances of suspected non-compliance through the auditing process or by launching full investigations if it considers this warranted, and taking appropriate enforcement action in respect of any alleged breaches.

The Cost Cap Administration has several options when dealing with an alleged breach of the Financial Regulations. It can enter, when deemed appropriate, into a settlement referred to as an Accepted Breach Agreement (ABA) with the Competitor concerned in case of Procedural Breach or Minor Overspend Breach, or, if no agreement can be reached or the Cost Cap Administration considers it more appropriate, it can refer the case to the Cost Cap Adjudication Panel. In the event of an alleged Major Overspend Breach the Cost Cap Administration must refer the case to the Cost Cap Adjudication Panel.

The Cost Cap Adjudication Panel comprises a panel of between six and twelve judges elected by the FIA General Assembly in accordance with the FIA Statutes from among the candidates proposed by either the FIA Sport Member Associations entitled to vote or a group of not less than five F1 Teams.

Procedural Breaches can result in Financial Penalties and/or Minor Sporting Penalties (in case of aggravating factors) as detailed in the Financial Regulation. Minor Overspend breach (<5% Cost Cap) can result in Financial Penalties and/or Minor Sporting Penalties. Only a Material Overspend breach (>5% Cost Cap) if confirmed before the Cost Cap Adjudication Panel will result in a mandatory Constructors’ Championship points deductions and can result in additional Financial Penalties and/or Material Sporting Penalties.

Click here to read the Financial Regulations in full.

[GrizzleBoy]

So finally it's official now. After all, as always, it actually was true that where is smoke, there is fire.

Considering Alfa Romeo for example have 2.4 million dollars for in-season-development available, one can only think of the possibilities in terms of performance gain when you overshoot the budget cap by up to 2 millions.


Fred Vasseur:

You have to understand that sometimes with €200,000 you can bring a big update. And if you overshoot the budget by this, it's a couple of tenths for more than one race.

Otmar Szafnauer:

At the margin, any spend above the margin is spent on performance: And once you start spending on performance where others don't get a chance to, because they've actually stuck to the budget cap, that's serious.

I didn't know spending for catering/absenteesm can also provide performance to the car.

Please don't fall for this trap to play it down.

There are no labels on each dollar spent telling you where it went.

If you spent a million over the cap, you spent a million over the cap.

It isn't possible to say where the overspend was, because the FIA did not give a cap to any individual department.

[bonjon1979]

So finally it's official now. After all, as always, it actually was true that where is smoke, there is fire.

Considering Alfa Romeo for example have 2.4 million dollars for in-season-development available, one can only think of the possibilities in terms of performance gain when you overshoot the budget cap by up to 2 millions.


Fred Vasseur:

You have to understand that sometimes with €200,000 you can bring a big update. And if you overshoot the budget by this, it's a couple of tenths for more than one race.

Otmar Szafnauer:

At the margin, any spend above the margin is spent on performance: And once you start spending on performance where others don't get a chance to, because they've actually stuck to the budget cap, that's serious.

I didn't know spending for catering/absenteesm can also provide performance to the car.

Such a silly way to try and spin this. Every team has to pay for catering and absenteeism, and they have to stay within the budget. If you go 4 million over for example, that’s because they’ve spent extra money on performance. Just because the amount happens to tally to catering or any other part of running the team for the season, that doesn’t mean that it suddenly doesn’t matter.

[mendis]

So finally it's official now. After all, as always, it actually was true that where is smoke, there is fire.

Considering Alfa Romeo for example have 2.4 million dollars for in-season-development available, one can only think of the possibilities in terms of performance gain when you overshoot the budget cap by up to 2 millions.


Fred Vasseur:

Otmar Szafnauer:

I didn't know spending for catering/absenteesm can also provide performance to the car.

Other teams were able to stay in budget despite having to spend on catering and absenteeism too. They did that by spending less on their car.

That's not an excuse.

One would be happy to be an RBR employee as one can get more luxurious food and better employment benefits.

[InsaneX_Badger]

People saying because it's due to absenteeism and catering it's either fine or less of a breach. Other teams would have done the some if it was allowed or considered a 'lesser' breach which then would have ultimately freed up the team budget to put more money into the car. Either way, they broke the rules. They will only get a slapped wrist and will say sorry to the FIA and then drive back to Milton Keynes with a smug grin on their face knowing they've made the right choice to breach the cap to increase competitiveness.