Formula One 2022: Salary cap report delay, fake report leaked
The FIA missed its’ own Wednesday deadline for a salary cap breach decision and angered fans while backing itself into a corner.
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Max Verstappen could romp to a second consecutive world championship in Japan on Sunday and be stripped of at least one of his titles less than 24 hours later.
That is the ridiculous scenario confronting Formula 1 following the FIA’s decision to delay releasing the findings of its investigation into alleged 2021 spending cap breaches until next Monday.
Rumours spread like wildfire through the paddock in Singapore last week that Verstappen’s Red Bull was one of two teams to breach the $AU222m spending ceiling installed last season, with mid-table Aston Martin the other mooted of wrongdoing.
The 25-year-old’s maiden world championship last term was already controversial enough before allegations began to swirl that Red Bull built a faster car by spending more money than was allowed per the budget cap.
The FIA was due to release its findings on Wednesday instead all that arrived was a statement in the early hours of Thursday morning announcing a delay until October 10, the day after the Japanese Grand Prix.
It was a move that angered Formula 1 fans and rightfully so, given the FIA imposed the Wednesday deadline on itself and has now seemingly been backed into a corner of its own making.
Fans scoured social media hoping to find news all day with even suggestions a statement had been mistakenly released on the FIA site, later revealed to be fake, which said Red Bull had been found $12m over the cap but that was recalculated to just $150,000 on appeal and only a $25,000 fine would be imposed.
Momentum is gathering that Red Bull will be cleared of a major breach but any financial overspend will cause angst in pitlane given last year’s title world title battle with Lewis Hamilton and the threats made previously about cap breaches.
F1 boss Ross Brawn warned in 2019 that major breaches would incur significant sanctions.
“Financial regulations are the dramatic change in F1,” Brawn said at the time.
🚨 | This may be the first document posted by the FIA financial experts regarding the budget cap, the document has now been removed from the FIA website, this could be fake..#JapaneseGP#F1pic.twitter.com/VTj6p1Hnte
— AnythingF1 (@AnythingF1_) October 5, 2022
“We’ve tried for these in the past, and we’ve not been successful. I think the crucial thing about the financial regulations now is that they are part of the FIA regulations.
“So the sanctions for breaching financial regulations will be sporting penalties of some sort, depending on the severity of the breach.
“Whereas before we had the resource restriction, which was a gentlemen’s agreement between teams – well there’s not many gentlemen in the paddock I’m afraid, and that was a failure.
The sport must have a backbone and come good on its threat.
“But this has teeth. If you fraudulently breach the financial regulations, you will be losing your championship. So it has serious consequences if teams breach these regulations.”
Verstappen will clinch the 2022 drivers’ championship if he wins at Suzuka this weekend with the fastest lap – not a tall order given the Dutchman has won 11 of the 17 races this season.
It presents the very real possibility that Verstappen and Red Bull will celebrate a world championship win on Sunday, and be found to have cheated last season’s title, all in the space of 24 hours. Assuming there is not another delay.
The optics for the FIA are poor no matter how things play out next week.
If the investigation finds Red Bull did not overspend, then all the repeated delays have done is cast a shadow over what should be a celebration of one of the most dominant single-season displays by a driver in Formula 1 history.
If Red Bull is found to have breached the cap – particularly by more than five per cent, which under the FIA’s regulations constitutes a material penalty – then pressure will immediately be applied to have severe punishments handed down.
The FIA’s framework for material breach sanctions range from points penalties and race disqualifications to outright suspension from competing.
Mercedes in particular will come hard for a reversal in the drivers’ championship result from last season given Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton were neck-and-neck in the title race.
Because the implementation of the spending cap was to equalise the playing field FIA cannot – or rather should not, because it might – be seen to be soft on anyone breaking the rules. Otherwise, why have the cap at all?
F1 must grow a backbone and come good on its threat. This decision sets a major precedent for the future of the sport the integrity of which has come under widespread and much deserved criticism in recent years.
FRESH TWIST IN F1’S $215M SALARY CAP BREACH SAGA
Formula One chiefs have postponed the release of findings into claims the sport’s spending budget has been exceeded, a point of contention that sparked a bitter war of words at the Singapore Grand Prix.
“The conclusion of the analysis of the 2021 financial submissions of the Formula 1 teams and the subsequent release of Certificates of Compliance to the Financial Regulations will not take place on Wednesday, October 5,” said International Automobile Federation (FIA).
“The analysis of financial submissions is a long and complex process that is ongoing and will be concluded to enable the release of the certificates on Monday, October 10.”
Rumours had swirled around the paddock at the Singapore Grand Prix last weekend after two European publications, Auto Motor und Sport in Germany and Italy’s Gazzetta dello Sport, claimed Red Bull and Aston Martin had broken the 2021 spending ceiling.
The FIA introduced the budget cap, set at $145 million, for the first time last year to make racing more competitive.
Red Bull chief Christian Horner said accusations aimed at his team were “hugely defamatory”.
Originally published as Formula One 2022: Salary cap report delay, fake report leaked
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