An ‘Accepted Violation Agreement’ ( ABA ) means that the team admits to breaking the rules with its 2021 spending and accepts the sanction imposed. If a team disagrees and does not reach an Aba, the case will proceed to the next stage, which is an investigation by the Cost Allocation Panel.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner is expected to explain the team’s position on the cost cap breach at a news conference in Austin on Friday, although the team has yet to confirm.
However, it is unlikely that an agreement will have been reached before he speaks.
Since rumors of an alleged infringement by Red Bull surfaced during the Singapore Grand Prix weekend, Horner has insisted the team had full confidence in the figures it presented to the FIA in March.
The day after the Japanese GP, the FIA formally confirmed that the team was guilty of “procedural and minor expense offences”, following a review of documents submitted by all teams.
More details about Red Bull’s alleged overspending have begun to emerge, although nothing has been officially confirmed by the FIA or the team.
The total figure is believed to be around $1.8 million , which would fall within the 5% “minor infringement” limit (just over $7 million).
The team appears to have breached various aspects of the FIA’s financial regulations, which are regularly updated with changes that have not been made public.
One of them is the allocation of the cost of catering in the factory and on the track. In addition, there is talk of redundancy and sick pay issues related to key employees.
An issue more directly related to the cost of running cars is the allocation of the value of unused replacement parts.
These went to the heritage department at the end of the season to be used in the show cars and in any testing of the 2021 model year in 2022, which falls outside the cap restrictions.
The FIA issued a clarification in June this year, three months after the teams submitted their documents, on how teams should consider such parts.
There is also a UK-specific tax issue that is considered to be similar to a procedural breach affecting Aston Martin.
If Horner speaks this Friday, there would be more details on where the team stands in all areas.
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