The FIA Defers Publishing Investigations

The FIA defers publishing the results of its investigations into which teams may have violated the 2021 F1 Season spending cap.

The investigation into whether any teams went above the financial limit for the sport of Formula One last year has been postponed again by the organisation that oversees F1 but will continue its endeavours to find out what happened last year.

Last week, the FIA informed all the F1 teams that it will be issuing certificates of conformity or not on the 5th of October, but this wasn’t to be. But the FIA noted that it would be a long-complicated process in a statement on Wednesday the 5th. The announcement stated that it would be concluded on Monday, 10th of October.

The teams, all of which are in Japan in preparation for this weekend's Grand Prix at the Suzuka Circuit on the 9th of October, will not be very happy by the delay. Teams had been waiting for a declaration of the FIA's results so they could reply to the statement. It wasn't until before 16:00 in the UK—which is midnight in Japan—that the announcement was made public.

And because of the revised publication date, it will be made known whether teams have been found to be compliant or not on the day when most people are flying from Japan back to Europe, the next Grand Prix is not for 2 weeks in Austin Texas.

This is the third time the FIA has assigned teams a date of when the publication will be released only to change it to another time in the future, which we must assume most teams what this enquiry over and down with.

Teams were initially informed that the results would be made public on Friday, September 30, then on Monday, October 3, then on October 5 and not it is not going to happen until the 10th of October or will it be delayed again, who knows.

After Mercedes and Ferrari claimed at the Singapore Grand Prix last weekend that it was not a well-kept secret inside the industry that two teams had spent over the $145 million (£114 million) cap throughout the season, the topic has gained traction in F1 and it would be good to have some resolution to this all and get on with the final part of the season.

Although Mercedes F1 team principal Toto Wolff made reference to specific accusations made against Red Bull, neither of them specifically named the teams in question.

Christian Horner, the head of the Red Bull team, responded strongly to his rivals' comments, declaring that he believed them to be defamatory and threatened to take further action if they were not changed. Horner's request was rejected by Mercedes and Ferrari.

Red Bull's report to the FIA has Horner very confident and mentioned that they were well within the budget spending cap for last year, which they won with Max Verstappen.

The FIA stated: " There has been extensive and unfounded guesswork and speculation in respect to this topic, and the FIA reiterates that no additional information will be disclosed until it is finalised.”

According to F1's financial laws, there are two categories of offence - small and material. The difference between the two is 5% of the limit, or $7.25 million in the previous year.

There is speculation that the offence is likely to be small if any team is found to have violated the rules last year. Penalties could include drivers’ or constructors point reduction, which could change things completely for that year as it was so close and only concluded on the last race in Red Bulls favour.

The possibility of disqualification from the tournament can come into effect for a serious offence.

In 2022, the budget cap was cut to $140 million, and in 2023, it will be $135 million. The cap is unaffected by the recent decline in the value of sterling because the exchange rate is set to the pound at a particular level.

Source: BBC website