Honda and Alpine have been found guilty of violating Formula 1’s cost-cap regulations for engine manufacturers in the 2023 season.
The governing body, the FIA, has imposed fines on Honda, the supplier for world champions Red Bull, amounting to £462,000 ($600,000), and on Alpine at £308,000 ($400,000) for procedural breaches of the financial rules.
Despite these infractions, the FIA confirmed that both manufacturers’ expenses remained under the £73.1m ($95m) budget limit stipulated by the regulations.
The FIA clarified that neither company “sought or obtained any undue advantage as a result of the breach.”
From 2026, engine suppliers must adhere to the power-unit financial regulations as a condition of participating in Formula 1, although these breaches pertain to the cost cap’s first year, 2023.
However, current engine-related expenses are excluded from the cap. Honda, set to supply Aston Martin from 2026, submitted inaccurate reporting documents.
Errors included incorrect exclusions and/or adjustments in costs related to the maintenance of engine dynamometers and inventory management.
Alpine, meanwhile, “delayed the exercise by the cost-cap administration of its regulatory function and submitted inaccurate reporting documents that omitted relevant information.”
The French company, owned by Renault, admitted that its initial assessment report “contained significant deficiencies,” according to the FIA.
The report stated that “several required procedures had not been performed at all, and several other procedures had only been partially completed.”
Both companies agreed to so-called accepted breach agreements with the FIA regarding their penalties.
The FIA also stated that Honda and Alpine had “acted cooperatively and in good faith throughout the review process, and have sought to provide additional information and evidence when requested in a timely manner.”