Last Updated on October 30 2024, 12:36 pm

The Formula One financial regulations designed to level the playing field in the sport are clearly working. Toto Wolff announced last time out in Mexico that due to the recent amount of crash damage that Mercedes have suffered, they will be “sacrificing” the rest of this season with a view to putting their resources into next years car.

Toto Wolff admits Mercedes are “now in serious trouble” and struggling to remain within the cost cap set at around $135m which limits the team’s spending each season on going racing.

In days of F1 yore, this would never have happened as the bigger teams with deeper pockets would push their in season car development until the very last day of competition. Mercedes concerns arose following the high speed crash by George Russell in Friday’s second practice session at the Mexican Grand Prix.

 

 

 

Mercedes cost cap crisis

When added to the huge shunt damage from the week before in Austin and Russell is to be left running an old specification floor for the remaining four weekends of the season. Add to this the significant damage done by rookie Kimi Antonelli on his Monza debut and Mercedes have had several million pounds knocked out of their budget since the return from the F1 summer break.

The fact Toto Wolff has dismissed Mercedes chances of now fighting for race wins in the season’s final run in means there’ll be no big race win send off for Brackley’s departing mega star, Lewis Hamilton.

Wolff went on to detail the extent of the damage sustained by Russell’s W15 after the latest excursion into the barriers. “I think we can keep the old chassis, but everything else has to go out,” Wolff told Sky Germany. “The engine has to come out, the gearbox has to be checked and then everything else. Two corners of the car are completely gone. So it’s serious damage.”

“We’re in serious trouble. We are all struggling to stay within the budget cap and of course we had a bad accident with Kimi at Monza. Then the second one with George last week [in Austin] and now again this week,” said the Mercedes boss in Mexico City.

Mercedes “sacrifice” big Hamilton send off

 

 

 

Russell huge damage mounts up

The cost cap is a complex set of financial regulations brought in by the FIA in an attempt to stop a spending race to reach the top of the podium. It limits total expenditure allowable each year which includes replacing damaged car components.

As the F1 teams enter the final stretch, they will have balanced their spending accordingly across the entire twelve month period, but a string of incidents in the final few races leave the teams with nothing in reserve and fielding a car which is not 100% capable of its optimum performance.

Wolff revealed George’s latest smash was recorded at 35G, an impact level which requires a mandatory examination at the circuits medical centre.  “But of course, the car is badly damaged… but we have the [spare] parts.”

Whilst Mercedes will sail close to the wind this season in terms of spending up to the budget cap, the FIA have discovered two F1 competitors to currently be in breach of the financial regulations.

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Two F1 competitors in breach of FIA regulations

Red Bull Racing were famously embroiled in a row over their mis-appropriation of expenses and subsequent cost cap breach two years ago. They were found to be in a ‘minor breach’ with categorised overspend less than 1%, yet the world champions were handed down the second biggest fine in F1 history of $7m.

Now Renault owned Alpine and Honda have been caught in breach of the FIA’s financial regulations but escape relatively lightly with six figure sum fines. The FIA revealed both manufacturers had committed budget “procedural breaches” in the new budget cap designed for power unit manufacturers which include also Mercedes and Ferrari.

Whilst neither Alpine nor Honda “exceeded the cost cap” and the FIA is satisfied they “acted at all times in good faith” in interpreting the complexities of the new financial rules.

The FIA has now announced it has entered the controversial “accepted breach agreement” procedure, which saw Zak Brown almost self combust when this approach was adopted with Red Bull two years ago.

Daniel Ricciardo partnering Max Verstappen

 

 

 

Honda biggest fine

Red Bull’s power unit supplier Honda will receive the biggest fine of $600,000 plus administrative costs. The FIA goes to pains to state there is “no evidence” the Japanese manufacturer “gained or sought to gain any advantage from the inaccurate exclusions or adjustments of certain costs”.

Honda was in fact below the 2023 cost cap but guilty of failing to file certain documentation accurately, for example information about dyno maintenance.

Alpine’s punishment is lesser at $400,000 with the team also omitting relevant information from their submission. “Several required procedures had not been performed at all, and several other procedures had only been partially completed,” the FIA explained.

There is no indication that the FIA believe either manufacturer gained a performance advantage from their misdemeanours which will please Red Bull Racing who could do without any further internal troubles after a season which most in Milton Keynes personnel could not have foreseen.

Colapinto set to join Red Bull

 

 

 

New FIA financial regulations in the pipeline

The financial regulations for the new power unit manufacturers of Audi and Red Bull/Ford are more lenient. They allow for a degree of ‘catch up’ to those currently producing F1 powertrains via more dyno testing time and incremental amounts of other resources to help close the knowledge gap quickly.

The FIA is proposing raft of changes to the financial regulations come 2026 in an attempt to plug loopholes being exploited by a number of the current competitors. By distributing their personnel across a range of projects and subsidiary companies, a number of F1 teams are diluting the impact of thee individuals by diluting their cost impact on the F1 budget.

In fact certain F1 operations have even expanded their number of personnel to around 1500 since the cost cap was introduced, which is counter intuitive so in future the complete salaries of all team personnel are to be included in the budget limit.

Ridiculous rookie battle breaks out in F1

 

 

 

Report: FIA debate Leclerc penalty before Brazil

This week, the FIA are in the midst of deliberations over the punishment which should be awarded to Charles Leclerc following his use of ‘bad language’ during the press conference in the wake of the race last weekend held in Mexico City.

The topic of drivers being role models was raised by FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem prior to the running of this season’s Singapore Grand Prix. The Bahraini has raised the issue of bad language in an interview with motorsport.com suggesting it should be removed from F1 broadcasting.

“We have to differentiate between our sport — motorsport — and rap music,” said Ben Sulayem. “We’re not rappers, you know. They say the F-word how many times per minute? We are not on that. That’s them and we are [us].”.. READ MORE