Rumors Confirmed: Three F1 Teams on the Edge of Penalties!
Jul.28 - Two top rival teams acknowledge that complex loopholes in the budget cap rules need to be closed by Formula 1's authorities.
The FIA last week played down rumours that, after Red Bull and Aston Martin were found in breach last year, two or three teams are once again at risk of penalties due to spending more than is allowed per season.
Red Bull's Dr Helmut Marko is now indicating that the rumours are true.
"Apparently, three teams could have exceeded the limit," he told motorsport-total.com.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff revealed in Hungary last weekend that he has had "long chats" with the FIA's budget cap inspectors about compliance checks.
It follows the Paris-based federation's earlier issuing of a technical directive warning that a spotlight has now fallen on clever accounting between the F1 teams and their engineering subsidiaries.
Marko said: "Red Bull is developing the (2025) RB17 hypercar, and there are people who work partly here and partly there. How do you account for that?
"There are also people with us who no longer want to travel, who no longer want the pressure of Formula 1, so we can place them in such projects.
"And if they do work in Formula 1 for a few hours, then you have to calculate those hours."
"The whole issue of the cost ceiling is still too open to interpretation and too weak on the facts," the 80-year-old top Red Bull official added. "That's why there are still discussions going on.
"It's a topic that needs to be improved," said Marko.
Wolff agrees that it is currently "extremely difficult" for the budget cap inspectors to assess whether teams' non-Formula 1 staff are adding performance to the F1 cars.
"Many teams employ thousands of people involved in commercial and non-commercial projects," he noted.
"We have to improve that for the new regulations in 2026," said Wolff.
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It cant be stopped , no sooner has a Gov changed the laws to prevent tax evasion, then the accountants have figured out a way around it,Same with f1 you'll never stop ideas and drawings being swapped over between engineers,Theory and practice, What else do we expect the bosses to say, oh a loophole, No thanks we wont use it to our advantage Come onnnn, the effort expended by the Fia on this is laughable
Shrop', are you implying that race teams push the envelope? Shame on you. Fact, they always have & always will....at every level all the way down to karts.
Im saying nothing I only come on here to practice my English...., but yes that's what i was saying the fia know this , half the fia people are ex f1 anyway
This is a difficult rule and can be applied in a draconian manner that prevents violation but also results in preventing innovation which F1 is supposed to promote. This would be a mandate that the F1 effort of any team has to be wholly contained. No team member could perform any work for any other of the team owners groups or enterprises and no technology developed in any other divisions could be used in F1. Violation would result in disqualification. This would prevent budget cap violations and would prevent teams like Mercedes and Ferrari who also produce road cars and Sports racing cars for using other commercial and racing efforts to develop components for their F1 effort either advertantly or inadvertantly as Ferrari and Mercedes and probably McLaren have done in the past. This removes the advantages that major car manufacturers that own F1 teams have but it also stifles innovation. So the solution becomes very complicated and is usually only addressed by small changes around the edges of the rules, leaving always doubt and loopholes.