All Teams Adhere to the Budget Cap
The FIA has officially announced that all ten Formula 1 teams have complied with the budget cap for the most recent season. This comes after thorough investigations by the governing body to ensure that each team stayed within the financial limits. Unlike two years ago, when Red Bull faced issues, this time the FIA found no violations.
However, there were some minor issues with two engine manufacturers. Alpine and Honda were reported to have committed procedural breaches, but both remained within the budget limits.
The Cost Cap Administration (CCA) commented: “Both Alpine Racing SAS and HRC have acted in good faith at all times and are currently working with the CCA to resolve the matter.”
The CCA further stated: “Given the nature of the breach, the complexity of the new financial regulations for power unit (PU) manufacturers, and the challenges associated with their first year of implementation, the CCA intends to propose that the respective breaches be addressed through the Accepted Breach Agreement (ABA) for both PU manufacturers.”
Bearman Set for Formula 1 Debut with Haas
Oliver Bearman will make his Formula 1 race debut this weekend in Baku, filling in for Kevin Magnussen, who is serving a one-race suspension after accumulating twelve penalty points in Monza. Bearman, set to become a full-time driver for Haas next year, will step into the cockpit for the American team for the first time.
Ahead of the race, Bearman shared his excitement: “I’m really looking forward to getting back into a Formula 1 car and completing my first full weekend. I’ve already done FT1 sessions with the team, but building on that and completing an entire weekend is a really exciting prospect.”
Bearman is no stranger to success in Baku, having won both Formula 2 races there in 2023—an achievement that is not common. “It’s one of my favourite circuits to race on, so I’m really excited about this opportunity,” Bearman added.
“I’m happy I’ve had plenty of time in the car because this will be my first full weekend, something I haven’t experienced before,” he concluded.
Williams and the Sandpaper Fix
In a rather unusual incident, Williams driver Alexander Albon was disqualified from qualifying in Zandvoort after his car’s floor exceeded the permitted size by mere “millimetre fractions,” as explained by team boss James Vowles.
Vowles admitted that the team hadn’t been thorough enough in their preparations for Zandvoort. “We didn’t scan carefully enough, and we didn’t replicate the FIA checks with enough precision,” Vowles explained. “When you’re dealing with millimetre fractions, it doesn’t take much to be out of compliance.”
The team resolved the issue in a rather unconventional way: a bit of sandpaper. Vowles revealed that using 400-grit sandpaper, it only took “about a minute” to fix the problem.