FIA hands Red Bull and Aston Martin fine for breach of 2021 Financial Regulations

The FIA has handed Red Bull Racing and Aston Martin a fine after striking an agreement over their Formula 1 budget cap breach and procedural breach in 2021.

The governing body announced on the eve of the Japanese Grand Prix that both Red Bull and Aston Martin were in breach of Formula One’s financial regulation for 2021, although FIA waited for several weeks to determine the penalty for the two teams.

The Paris-based federation revealed on Friday in Mexico that Red Bull’s breach was $2.2m or 1.6 percent. However, the FIA stated if a tax credit had been correctly applied it would have been $0.5m.

The Milton Keynes team have entered an Accepted Breach Agreement (ABA) with the FIA, and as a result of it, they must pay $7million to the FIA within 30 days of the date of execution of the ABA.

Moreover, Red Bull have also received sporting penalty in the form of 10% reduction in their allocated Restricted Wind Tunnel Testing and Restricted Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) limits. This penalty means that Red Bull’s allocation will drop from 70% to 63%.

The FIA stated: “The Cost Cap Administration recognised that Red Bull Racing 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 and that there is no accusation or evidence that RBR (Red Bull Racing) has sought at any time to act in bad faith, dishonestly or in fraudulent manner, nor has it wilfully concealed any information from the Cost Cap Administration.

“In these circumstances, the Cost Cap Administration offered to RBR an ABA to resolve this matter. That offer was accepted by RBR.”

Aston Martin was the other team that has committed a procedural breach of F1’s cost cap. The Silverstone based outfit stayed within the $145m spending limit set for 2021, and was only found to have made an administrative error.

As a result of the FIA’s investigation, Aston Martin have been handed a $450,000 fine for committing a procedural breach of F1’s cost cap, and they have now 30 days to pay the fine.

An FIA statement read: "The Cost Cap Administration recognised that AMR has acted cooperatively and in good faith 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 and that there is no accusation or evidence that AMR has sought or obtained any undue advantage as a result of the breach."

Earlier this year, the Grove-based Williams paid a $25,000 fine to the FIA following a procedural breach of F1’s financial regulations.