Aston Martin fined $450,000 for cost cap reporting errors

Aston Martin has been fined $450,000 by the FIA for failing to accurately report a number of items in its 2021 Financial Regulations submission.

Like Red Bull, Aston Martin has entered into an Accepted Breach Agreement (ABA) with the FIA, the team having been within the budget cap but making a number of errors in its accounts. The ABA says Aston Martin inaccurately excluded and/or adjusted costs in the calculation of its Relevant Costs across 12 different areas.

Those areas included the costs of its new headquarters, additional wind tunnel feels, the cost of a new Formula 1 simulator, an R&D tax credit, catering costs and certain signing bonuses.

Also requiring adjustment were the use of transferable components, used parts, service desk costs, the cost of desks and chairs, unrecorded costs and losses in respect of the cost of services rendered by sponsors, and the cost of services rendered by outsourced personnel.

“The Cost Cap Administration recognized that "notwithstanding the CCA’s determination of Procedural Breach, AMR’s Relevant Costs during the 2021 reporting period were below the 2021 Cost Cap; AMR has acted cooperatively throughout the review process and has sought to provide additional information and evidence when requested in a timely manner; that this is the first year of the full application of the Financial Regulations which are a very complex set of rules that competitors were required to adapt to; that there is no accusation or evidence that AMR has sought at any time to act in bad faith, dishonesty or in a fraudulent manner, nor has it willfully concealed any information from the Cost Cap Administration; and that AMR did not gain or seek to gain any advantage from the inaccurate exclusions or adjustments of certain costs.”

Aston Martin must pay the fine – which itself is excluded from the cost cap – within 30 days.