The Formula 1 Commission has agreed to allow teams to spend an extra $1.2 million (£1m) over the cost cap this year.
The base cost cap will fall to $135m (£111m) this year, but teams are allowed a number of exceptions. The cap has been relaxed to take into account the 2023 F1 calendar featuring more than 21 races.
Teams are already given an additional allowance for these extra races, and the value of that adjustment has now been raised. “An increase of the cost cap adjustment for additional races above 21 was agreed from $1.2m to $1.8m per race on the basis that the trend of the additional races being added to the calendar has been towards fly-aways, which are more expensive,” said F1 and the FIA in a joint statement.
The cost cap was introduced in 2021 and teams’ adherence to it was assessed for the first time last year. One team, Red Bull, was judged to have over-spent, while Aston Martin and Williams were found to have committed other breaches.
The commission also agreed changes to the rules aimed at making it easier for them to enforce the cost cap. It approved “wording to allow easier access to the factories for the FIA auditing team, in order to police the adherence of the teams and [power unit] manufacturers to the financial regulations, and to the operational limitations of the technical and sporting regulations”.
A new “winter shutdown” period has also been agreed for chassis and power unit manufacturers, in addition to the existing summer shutdown when their factories must be idle.
The F1 Commission’s changes are subject to approval by the World Motor Sport Council.
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