Williams Racing Fined for ‘Procedural Breach’ of F1’s Cost Cap Rules

The larger teams have already said it’ll be a struggle keeping within the limits this season due to inflation and freight costs.

Williams Racing was handed a $25,000 fine after breaching Formula One’s cost cap regulations when it missed a deadline to file the team’s 2021 accounts, the FIA announced. 

The sport’s governing body released the public summary of an “accepted breach agreement” dated May 19, 2022. 

The FIA said in a statement, “Having considered Williams’ explanation and given in particular that the Procedural Breach was voluntarily disclosed by Williams in advance of the Full Year Reporting Deadline of 31 March 2022 and Williams has been fully cooperative in seeking to remedy the breach, the Cost Cap Administration deemed it appropriate to offer Williams an ABA resolving the breach on the terms set out below. That offer was accepted by Williams.”

Williams was notified on April 12 of the breach, which it voluntarily disclosed the problem prior to the March 31 full year reporting deadline. Three days later, the team accepted the breach and detailed “the steps that it had taken to seek to avert that breach.” 

This has been resolved, and Williams has paid the fine. The Cost Cap Administration also required the team to remediate the breach by May 31 and “bear the costs incurred by the Cost Cap Administration in connection with the preparation of the ABA.” 

The cost cap limits have restricted Formula One teams from spending more than approximately $140 million this year. Williams has one of the smaller budgets on the grid, but the bigger teams fighting up front have already said it’ll be a struggle keeping within the limits due to inflation and costs. 

“At the time we all agreed to those reductions, nobody could have predicted what was going on in the world and how that is driving inflation in every household globally,” Red Bull team principal Christian Horner recently said to Sky Sports F1.”We’re seeing it in Formula One, we’re seeing it with logistics, we’re seeing it with energy costs. That to me is something the FIA need to take into account. This is a modal window.

“They have the ability through force majeure to apply an inflationary effect because we don’t have enough levers to get down to the cap. I think that’s the same for probably seven of the teams in Formula 1. We’ve still got six months left this year, inflation still looks like it’s rising rather than diminishing, and hopefully the FIA will act shortly.”

 Ferrari’s Mattia Binotto echoed similar concerns, telling Sky Sports F1, “I think that there will be no way for us to stay below. So, I’m pretty sure that at some stage we will go over.

“In the regulations, there is a threshold, which is a 5%. If you do not exceed the 5%, on the top of what’s the budget cap threshold, it will be considered a minor breach. And what’s a minor breach in case of force majeure? What will the stewards and the FIA decide on that, in terms of penalties?

“No idea—but I don’t think there is any way for us—and for many teams —simply to stay within, and even laying-off people, I don’t think that’s a good and right choice.”