F1 engine manufacturers Alpine and Honda have been hit with a combined fine of $1 million by the FIA after they were found in breach of the procedural guidelines under the sport’s new engine cost cap rules. While both companies kept their engine development costs within the cap, they were found to have made mistakes in the paperwork required to prove their compliance.
Starting in 2023, the FIA required engine manufacturers to stay within a cost limit for engine development. All four engine suppliers managed to stay within this financial limit, but Alpine and Honda ran into trouble with how they filed their reports.
According to the FIA, as reported by Motorsport.com, Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) faced a bigger fine of $600,000 due to errors in cost calculations that led to incorrect figures. Alpine, on the other hand, was fined $400,000 after it failed to submit all required documents on time and left out some important information in the paperwork.
COST CAP BREACHES:
Power unit suppliers Honda and Alpine have both agreed to deals with the FIA after breaching F1’s financial regulations. Honda will pay a fine of $600,000 and Alpine owes $400,000.
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— The Race (@wearetherace) October 29, 2024
Both Alpine and Honda have agreed to pay the fines and admitted to their mistakes, hoping to close the matter quietly. The “Accepted Breach Agreement” signed between the two companies and the FIA means that they will not face any further consequences.
However, this breach could once again tarnish the reputation of Red Bull Racing, with its association to Honda’s engine program. The Milton Keynes outfit have faced such a situation previously, though, when they breached the cost cap in 2021.
Red Bull faced severe consequences during its 2021 cost-cap breach
Starting in 2021, all F1 teams were required to operate within the same budget constraints to level the playing field between the top teams with significantly more resources and the smaller teams without those.
However, during the 2022 season, Red Bull was found to have breached that cost cap by just less than 5% as they entered an “Accepted Breach Agreement” with the FIA. In that case, Red Bull received a hefty $7 million fine and faced a 10% reduction in its aero testing limits, affecting both wind tunnel and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) testing.
Red Bull have been handed a $7million fine and restrictions on car development time for breaching last season’s Formula 1 cost cap.pic.twitter.com/yowddluo35
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) October 28, 2022
Max Verstappen’s maiden F1 title was already under scrutiny because of the way the “human error” in implementing safety car restart rules during the season finale in Abu Dhabi. And the breach of the cost cap by Red Bull raised further questions about the Dutchman’s maiden championship.
Despite the sanctions, Red Bull continued to dominate in the following seasons, leaving the rival teams wondering if the penalties were effective enough. Some suggested that the 10% restriction on testing time might not have had a major impact on Red Bull’s performance.
