Three Formula 1 Team Principals have exercised caution in their approach to speculation surrounding an alleged breach of the sport’s cost cap.
On Thursday, it was confirmed that Aston Martin was guilty of a minor breach due to an administrative error, and received no penalty, neither financial nor sporting, after being fully transparent and compliant with the FIA.
Further reports indicated that a second team may have also breached the regulations, however on a much larger scale, leading to so far unsubstantial speculation as to which team it might be, with rumours pointing towards one of the sport’s top teams.
This was caused by the delay in the FIA’s announcement of the compliance certificates given to teams upon successful completion of the cost cap procedures.
Friday’s Team Principals press conference gave three of the bosses on the grid a chance to respond to the story, and what their thoughts on it were.
Sauber’s Jonathan Wheatley showed sympathy with the teams involved, saying that there is always a sense of juggling to ensure a team won’t breach the cost cap, but also spends as much as possible to become as competitive as they can.
“I think the delay in announcing made it very clear to all of us that there were some teams in trouble, or a team in trouble perhaps,” Wheatley told media including Motorsport Week.
“I can speak from experience, it’s a very, very difficult thing to balance.
“You want to be competitive, you can imagine you want to spend every last dollar up against your cost cap limit. Of course you do, that’s what we’re in the business of doing.
“We’re in racing, we’re in a competitive sport. I think the first thing I would say is that nobody’s doing it intentionally.
“These things happen sometimes, things can just come out of control a little bit, like a car crash, something like that, and I don’t expect to cost late on.
“I don’t want to speculate on the cause of it. I think we now understand why we were late in getting the publication from the FIA.”
Ferrari and Haas bosses chime in on F1 cost cap rumours
Ferrari’s Fred Vasseur said that the FIA’s delay was not an issue as far as he was concerned, taking a diplomatic approach as to the sport’s governing body’s role in keeping all things above board.
“I think it’s not a big deal to have the decision on September or October at the end of the day,” he said.
“On this we have to trust the FIA, that they are doing their job, and I think it’s not an easy one, honestly.
“But we also have to avoid to make any speculation on rumours, and so that it would be a mistake. And the last part of the equation is something in the procedural breach.
“I think this can happen to everybody, and it’s not a sporting advantage.
“We have to split what is a sporting advantage with a sporting penalty, and a technical advantage or technical mistake, let’s say, with the FIA.”
Haas boss Ayao Komatsu was, like his predecessors in commenting, quick to keep his powder dry on the issue, indicating that speculation should be ignored.
“I think that nobody does it intentionally,” he said, “and all these things, we’ve got to trust the process, and then wait for the outcome.”
READ MORE – Aston Martin admits to breaching F1 cost cap
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