All of the racing stables involved in the top tier of motorsport successfully adhered to the financial rules implemented for the 2024 season, with only the Aston Martin team identified as having a “procedural infraction”, according to official confirmation from the FIA.
Formula 1 brought in budgetary limitations back in 2021 to encourage more balanced competition between the teams, as the leading groups historically possessed much greater financial resources than those at the bottom.
The ceiling was originally set at $145 million and has since been adjusted downward to $135 million for the upcoming 2025 season. Following a thorough seven-month investigation, the FIA has officially announced today, October 28th, which teams have successfully met the requirements for the previous season.
The FIA stated that each of the racing organizations offered complete support by making available all necessary data and “acted consistently with sincerity and co-operation during the entire process”.
Leading up to the recent Mexico Grand Prix weekend, it had already been communicated that Aston Martin had technically fallen short of compliance, and speculations arose suggesting another team might have been in a similar predicament.
However, it has since been verified that the Silverstone-based squad was the only team to have done so, while still maintaining financial compliance.
Lance Stroll, Aston Martin Racing
Photo by: Zak Mauger / LAT Images via Getty Images
The FIA explained that the infraction “was of a very insignificant degree, stemming from unforeseen circumstances beyond the control of the F1 team. AMR and FIA entered into an Accepted Breach Agreement (ABA) on September 29, 2025, to address the matter.”
The formal statement released by the F1 administrative organization further clarified: “No monetary penalties were applied to AMR due to these unique and unforeseen circumstances. The Cost Cap Administration confirms that there is neither allegation nor substantiation indicating that AMR sought or acquired any inappropriate advantage as a result of the infraction.”
According to Article 6.28 of F1’s financial guidelines, an ABA represents a process whereby the FIA proposes a corrective action, which the involved team then consents to. The statement corroborated that Aston Martin formally accepted the provided agreement.
The infraction occurred due to the requirement for teams to furnish documentation demonstrating cost cap adherence by March 31st of the subsequent year.
According to sources, Aston Martin prepared the necessary documents on schedule, but their designated auditor could not provide a vital sign-off because of external factors, resulting in the specified deadline being missed.
The last entities to have committed similar procedural breaches were Renault and Honda back in 2023, which were both resolved through an ABA concerning the power unit cost cap filings. However, for 2024, all of F1’s power unit suppliers, including Mercedes, Ferrari, Honda, Renault, and Audi, were determined to be in full compliance.
Previously, there has been only one instance where an F1 team failed to observe the budget limit altogether, which occurred with Red Bull in 2021, exceeding the cap by 5%. Consequently, Red Bull was penalized with a $7 million fine, along with a 10% decrease in permitted wind tunnel usage and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) testing.
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– The Autosport.com Team
