The FIA has ruled that Williams committed a procedural infraction by failing to submit its Annual Financial Report for the 2021 season on time. The team acknowledged the violation of Formula One's financial regulations
Williams has been fined US$25,000 by the FIA (International Automobile Federation) for submitting its Annual Financial Report for the year 2021 after the deadline. The British team had until March 31 this year to submit all the paperwork to the entity, which did not happen.
The F1 budget ceiling was US$145 million last season. Williams, although it did not exceed the spending limit, acknowledged that it committed a procedural infraction by delaying the documents.
The FIA even notified the base in Grove on April 12 about the violation. Since then, Williams has been cooperative in an attempt to avoid a punishment. The FIA extended the deadline for submitting the corrected report to June 1st, but still fined the Brits $25,000 because it considered there was a violation of financial regulations. They also had to pay the costs included in the Spending Ceilings Administration.
F1's budget cap has been much talked about in recent weeks, especially by the top teams on the grid, Ferrari, Red Bull, Mercedes, and McLaren. The Italians, for example, are already considering being sanctioned by the FIA for not seeing the possibility of closing 2022 within the US$ 140 million limit. Christian Horner, in turn, even said that seven teams can lose the last four races of the year if something is not done.
In contrast, the smaller teams are resistant to any discussion of raising the spending ceiling for the category. Alpine boss Otmar Szafnauer has already said that he sees the budget limit as an ally, just as Haas boss Günther Steiner believes that teams in the middle of the pack can get closer to the top of the grid.