F1 paddock reacts after Aston Martin admit cost cap paperwork slip
Aston Martin have accepted responsibility for a procedural breach of Formula 1’s 2024 cost cap regulations, following the discovery that a required signature was missing from the documentation submitted to the FIA.
I think the delay in announcing made it very clear to all of us that there were some teams in trouble, or a team in trouble perhaps.- Jonathan Wheatley
It is understood that the signature was absent due to causes de force majeure, with the Silverstone-based outfit keeping the FIA updated throughout the process. Nevertheless, the incident triggered an Accepted Breach Agreement (ABA), which Aston Martin agreed to sign, taking full responsibility for the error.
The topic was raised during Friday’s team principals’ press conference, where Haas’s Ayao Komatsu, Ferrari’s Frederic Vasseur and Sauber’s Jonathan Wheatley were asked about the FIA’s delay in finalising its 2024 cost cap analysis and the seriousness of potential sanctions.
Jonathan Wheatley suggested the delay itself hinted that 'there were some teams in trouble.'
He said: “I think the delay in announcing made it very clear to all of us that there were some teams in trouble, or a team in trouble perhaps. I can speak from experience, it’s a very, very difficult thing to balance.
"You want to be competitive. You can imagine you want to spend every last dollar up against your cost cap limit. Of course you do. That’s what we’re in the business of doing. We’re in racing. We’re in a competitive sport.
"I think the first thing I would say is that nobody’s doing it intentionally. You know, these things happen sometimes. Things can just get out of control a little bit, like a car crash, something like that, and unexpected costs late on. So, look, I don’t want to speculate on the cause of it. I see that I think we now understand why we were late in getting the publication from the FIA.”
Ferrari team principal Frédéric Vasseur took a pragmatic view, emphasising trust in the FIA’s process.
He said: “Yeah. I think it’s not a big deal to have the decision in September or October at the end of the day. On this, we have to trust the FIA that they are doing their job. And I think it’s not an easy one, honestly. But we also have to avoid making any speculation on rumours. That would be a mistake.
"And the last part of the equation, if someone did a procedural breach, I think this can happen to everybody. And it’s not a sporting advantage. We have to separate sporting advantage with a sporting penalty from a technical mistake or administrative issue. Let’s wait and see.”
Komatsu agreed that such errors are rarely intentional, adding: “Nothing much there. Nobody does it intentionally. And then all these things, we’ve got to adjust the process and wait for the outcome.”
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