The FIA is currently scrutinizing Formula 1 teams for allegedly exploiting a loophole in the designated cost cap. Moreover, the governing body is actively working towards sealing it to avoid the same in the future. The teams primarily under the lens are Mercedes, Red Bull, Ferrari, and Aston Martin. Notably, these are also the top four teams in the constructors’ ranking so far in the 2023 season.
All these four teams have deployed their staff to work on non-F1 projects, which naturally isn’t counted under the F1 budget of the respective teams. For example, Mercedes and Red Bull compete in America’s Cup, the sailing competition. Silver Arrows technical director James Allison was formerly a part of that project. At the same time, Ferrari recently won the Le Mans.
To work on these projects, all these mighty brands have separate teams or divisions. Red Bull has its Advanced Technology division, McLaren has Applied Technologies, Mercedes has Applied Science, and Aston Martin has Performance Technologies. The FIA has recently learned that teams are using these divisions to gather f1-related knowledge and pass it on to the teams for free of cost.
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F1 insider lays down details regarding the FIA introduced TD45
The new regulations state that the teams, though allowed to gather information, can’t trade them for free of cost as it is intellectual property. Now, the teams are expected to include all the shared data and costs associated with the same. The cutoff date for the same is kept on the 1st of January 2023. Moreover, the cost calculation has to be applied retrospectively.
With several teams currently working on their car development, this additional cost enforced by TD45 can come as a shocker. Especially, Mercedes have used a significant part of their development budget into bringing Monaco Upgrades. In a recent interview, a credible F1 insider shed some light on the same.
“It’s had an impact. Some have been forced to act because they realized what they were doing is no longer allowed. But the difficult part is they will have been doing it since January 1 (when the TD declared a cut-off point), so they will have had a spend up until this point that they now need to address and somehow claw back,” said an Insider.
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