After the FIA delayed publication, teams will find out this Monday whether or not they have been granted a certificate of compliance confirming they acted within the 2021 season spending limit. If not, further investigations will be carried out. and sanctions.
During the weekend of the Singapore Grand Prix , several teams suggested that Red Bull Racing and Aston Martin had breached the limit, although both have vehemently denied this was the case.
Speaking exclusively to Motorsport.com at Suzuka ahead of Sunday’s Japanese GP, Robert Reid made it clear that the FIA is frustrated that teams have leveled accusations at their rivals.
“I think the unfortunate thing for me is that there has been a lot of speculation, wild, wild speculation,” he said. “And that has led to situations where there may even be reputational damage, which is not a positive thing. There has been too much talk.”
“Everything will be out on Monday and I’m sure we’ll quickly move on to next year’s review and see what’s next.”
“Personally, I don’t really know the numbers. It’s a process, we have a department that’s doing it, they’ll come up with various steps in the process.”
“If there were any breaches, I think everyone knows how those breaches would be classified in terms of procedure: minor and material.”
“The regulations are there for everyone to read. We’ve already had a situation with Williams [when the team was fined in June] so everyone understands what would happen or what the next steps would be in terms of a process. of infringement”.
“I don’t know if there will be some procedural breaches, or there might even be some overspending. So let’s wait and see.”
Reid stressed that the most important result of this Monday is that it is seen that the regulations have worked successfully.
“It has to work,” he said. “There is a process. It is an initial stage when it comes to the regulations. You have to see the number of changes that are in the technical and sporting regulations of F1 on an ongoing basis. I think that any novelty has to be adjusted.”
“Maybe there are some unintended or unrealized consequences to the way things are written. It’s an old classic. If you’re looking to change something, then other issues will come up that you might not be aware of. We had a rehearsal in 2020, so that this is the first procedure proper”.
“From a sporting point of view, we still have situations where people are like, ‘Oh, we’ve never seen that before.’ Now, how long has this sport been around? So I’m sure we’re going to see the same thing, not only in the financial analysis of 2021, but in the financial regulation as we go forward.”
“It’s a complicated regulation, so it’s a complicated process to get through the procedures. But I think everyone agrees that it’s absolutely essential for the future of the sport that we have some control over costs.”
Reid says the FIA trusts former Scuderia Toro Rosso chief financial officer Federico Lodi, who is the FIA’s head of financial regulations.
“We have to trust Federico,” he defended. “It’s his job. He’s in charge of that, he’s done all the analysis, it’s his department that has created everything.”
“Having said that, the teams have had a great involvement in creating the regulations. And we are all working together because there is a common goal to get it right.”
Regarding the delay in the results – which were initially expected in June – he said: “Certainly, we hope that in the next few years it will be faster than in this 2022, now that we have been through this.”
“But the clarifications that occur on the 2021 results are obviously valid for 2022 and 2023.”
“By the law of physics, we’re narrowing down the parts that are questionable. There’s a big part that’s absolutely clear, and clearly within the cost limit, or clearly outside the cost limit.”
“And hopefully the gray area will get smaller and smaller as we go along.”
