► FIA confirms no F1 budget cap 2022 breaches for the season
► Rumours of teams finding loopholes in budget
► New and improved budget cap procedure
The FIA has confirmed all 10 Formula One teams have successfully kept within the 2022 season budget cap, following thorough investigation after Red Bull’s 2021 breach.
All 10 teams escaped unscathed, despite reports that some might have been close to overstepping the permitted maximum spend.
The Red Bull £1.86 million budget cap breach during the 2021 season resulted in a hefty £6 million fine and 10 seconds taken from their wind-tunnel testing time, Aston Martin were also fined in 2021 for breaching budget procedural protocols. The FIA stated that the team ‘inaccurately excluded and/or adjusted costs in the calculation of its relevant costs’.
The F1 budget cap 2022 encompassed all 365 days of the year, with teams having until the end of March 2023 to submit paperwork for the FIA to conduct what it describes as its most ‘intensive’ and ‘thorough’ process yet.
Non-F1 investigations
The FIA also decided to venture its investigations into ‘non-F1’ related activities. This included team site visits and thorough auditing processes which went as far as looking into team WhatsApp messages to ensure compliance was being met financially.
The organisation has emphasised it will continue to improve its financial investigations into the teams to ensure the collective benefit.
Cost cap duties have been changed significantly to keep teams on a tighter leash, following timing complaints in 2021 as the organisation did not deliver budget findings until October of that year.
The FIA noted all 10 teams complied in ‘good faith and cooperation’ during its investigations and further emphasised that the new budget process is an inaugural part of the sport’s future goal of fair and competitive racing.