F1: Williams first team to be fined for breach of F1 cost cap
Williams have been fined $25,000 for a breach of Formula 1’s cost cap regulations.
The team missed the March 31, 2022 deadline to submit its 2021 accounts and are the first to be punished under the cap since its introduction last year.
The cap has been reduced to $140m this year from $145m in 2021.
The cost cap was created to limit how much an F1 team can spend during a calendar year in order to compete in an effort to level the playing field.
Williams were found to have committed a “procedural breach” of the rules and had to bear the costs incurred by the cost cap administrators as well as the fine.
The development comes as teams fight for an increase in the cost cap this season, which will go down again to $135m in 2023.
But a number of leading teams have argued that global inflationary pressures mean they should be given a representative increase.
Our opinion is to heavily fine teams who breach the cost caps and spread the fine revenue to the other teams. If teams want to continue development because they are in a battle to win the championship, then they should pay the penalty and the other teams should reap the reward.