F1 cost cap: Aston Martin's breach, why they weren't penalised and what it all means

The verdict is in: Aston Martin breached F1 cost cap rules for the 2024 season!

They also haven't been punished for doing so. What's up with that, then? We're glad you asked.

The most important thing to note in all of this is that Aston Martin - just like the other nine teams on the grid - stayed within their allowed budget in 2024. That's the headline that F1 would have dearly loved to see splashed across the sports pages today.

'Great F1 news: everyone followed the rules!' It might not have sold many newspapers, but it would've been lovely for the brand. Except Aston Martin had their little breach, and now all of the stories are about that.

The plot twist here, such as there is one, is that it wasn't even Aston's fault. They stayed within budget, they had all their ducks in a row, and they were undone by humans being human.

It was as simple as this: Aston needed someone at an independent company to sign their submission, and that person was unwell at the time.

They then got the paperwork signed - having already submitted their draft documentation - and everything was fine.

Turns out the answer to the question 'why didn't Aston Martin get punished for breaching cost cap rules?' is 'because they didn't really do anything wrong'.

That's not just our take on the matter, it's what the FIA themselves said. "The procedural breach was of a very minor nature, originated by unpredictable circumstances outside the control of the F1 team."

You want more? They continued: "Aston Martin did not gain or seek to gain any advantage from the commission of the procedural breach at issue."

What is the F1 cost cap?

Put simply, the F1 cost cap is a mutually agreed dollar amount which the teams are allowed to spend each year, introduced for the 2021 season to protect teams from the increasing costs of running their organisations.

Some expenditure - driver salaries and the salaries of the team's three highest-paid employees among them - are considered exempt from the cap, but all the actual parts on the car, and the salaries of almost all of the people involved in making them, are very much regulated.

The current cost cap is set at $135m.

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