McLaren CEO Zak Brown says that any team breaking the cost cap “constitutes cheating” and is demanding harsh penalties in light of Red Bull Racing and Aston Martin being found to have breach the rules.
In a letter written to the governing body, Brown called on the governing body to slap offending teams with penalties that will severely restrict their ability to develop their cars for 2023.
The letter is addressed to the president of the FIA, Mohammed Ben Sulayem, as well as Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali.
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The BBC has sighted the letter, which it says has been leaked and was intended to be private correspondence. It was also sent to the six other teams not found to have been in breach of the financial regulations this year, those being Ferrari, Mercedes, Alpine, Alfa Romeo and Haas.
Last week the FIA revealed that both Red Bull Racing and Aston Martin had broken the cost-cap rules.
Red Bull Racing had committed a procedural breach — that is, it didn’t obey the administrative requirements of the regulations — and also spent more than the US$145 million (A$235 million) cap by up to 5 per cent, or US$7.25 million (A$11.54 million).
Aston Martin also committed a procedural breach but was found to have spent within the cap.
Williams was found to have committed a procedural breach earlier this season and fined US$25,000 (A$39,800).
The FIA has not issued any further details about Red Bull Racing and Aston Martin’s breaches. Of particular interest is how much RBR has expended beyond the limit given spending correlates with development and therefore performance.
A significant amount of each team’s development spend last year would have been directed to this year’s car under the all-new technical regulations.
The governing body said only that it is “currently determining the appropriate course of action to be taken under the financial regulations” and that “further information will be communicated in compliance with the regulations”.
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According to the BBC, Brown wrote there was no excuse for any team not to have complied with the regulations.
“The overspend breach, and possibly the procedural breaches, constitute cheating by offering a significant advantage across technical, sporting and financial regulations,” he wrote.
“The FIA has run an extremely thorough, collaborative and open process. We have even been given a one-year dress rehearsal (in 2020), with ample opportunity to seek any clarification if details were unclear.
“So, there is no reason for any team to now say they are surprised.”
Brown wrote that a financial penalty wouldn’t be sufficient punishment for any kind of breach of the cost controls and called for a fine to be matched by an equal reduction in spending and development allowance for the following season.
“The bottom line is any team who has overspent has gained an unfair advantage both in the current and following year’s car development,” he wrote.
“We suggest that the overspend should be penalised by way of a reduction to the team’s cost cap in the year following the ruling.
“The penalty should be equal to the overspend plus a further fine — i.e. an overspend of $2m in 2021, which is identified in 2022, would result in a $4m deduction in 2023 ($2m to offset the overspend plus $2m fine).
“For context, $2m is (a) 25–50 per cent upgrade to (an) annual car-development budget and hence would have a significant positive and long-lasting benefit.
“In addition, we believe there should be minor overspend sporting penalties of a 20 per cent reduction in CFD and wind tunnel time. These should be enforced in the following year, to mitigate against the unfair advantage the team has and will continue to benefit from.”
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Brown also recommended that the definition of ‘minor’ breach be lowered from 5 per cent to 2.5 per cent and that back-to-back minor breaches should be treated as a more serious ‘material’ breach, for which teams face mandatory docking of championship points.
He also called for the FIA to make public as many of the details of the breach and potential punishment as it can.
“It is paramount that the cost cap continues to be governed in a highly transparent manner, both in terms of the details of any violations and related penalties,” he wrote.
“The-cost cap introduction has been one of the main reasons we have attracted new shareholders and investors to F1 in recent years, as they see it as a way to drive financial and sporting fair play.
“It is therefore critical that we be very firm on implementing the rules of the cost cap for the integrity and the future of F1.”
Revelations that Red Bull Racing had broken the cost cap in its first season of operation have rocked the sport given Max Verstappen beat Lewis Hamilton by just eight points in the final race of last year’s fraught championship campaign.
Verstappen won his second straight title last round in Japan, and Red Bull Racing is likely to win the constructors championship at this weekend’s United States Grand Prix.
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Red Bull Racing said it acknowledged the FIA’s findings “with surprise and disappointment” and is maintaining that it did nothing wrong.
According to the regulations, the team can either accept the FIA’s conclusions and enter into a settlement agreement or take the matter to an adjudication panel for further hearing.
Aston Martin also hasn’t yet indicated whether it will accept the FIA’s findings.
