Violation of the cost cap: Formula E teams Jaguar & Nissan receive Valencia driving bans & fines

This week, the FIA announced the results of a review of the cost cap for Formula E teams introduced at the start of the Gen3 era. Two teams, Jaguar and Nissan, did not comply with the cost cap of 13.7 million euros in the ninth Formula E season (2023). As these were only minor overruns of 0.6 and 2.0 per cent respectively and both teams were cooperative, a rather low penalty was chosen. Nevertheless, the offences for both teams will have an impact on the pre-season tests in Valencia, which will take place at the beginning of November.

Both Jaguar and Nissan have signed an "Accepted Breach Agreement" with FIA, in which they admit to failing to comply with the Formula E World Championship's cost cap rules for the 2023 season. As this was the first season after the introduction of the cost cap, the overrun was only a small amount and the teams had been cooperative and transparent in their dealings with the FIA, there was only a minor sporting penalty.

FIA identifies several errors in the settlement

The FIA states that Jaguar omitted or misstated information in seven areas in its reports, including paddock fees, rental costs for a truck, development costs for the simulator and fines that the team had to pay. In addition, marketing activities, including the fee for the Formula E Team and Manufacturers Association, were incorrectly recognised and repair costs were reported twice.

Nissan, on the other hand, was found to have discrepancies in five areas, including the costs of the simulator, travel and car parts, employee social contributions, the apprentice subsidy and other recharges and costs of services provided by the manufacturer Nissan, for which the works team must also pay.

Jaguar Racing must pay a fine of 100,000 euros for the proven overrun of 73,849 British pounds, the equivalent of around 88,500 euros. At Nissan, the overrun was even higher at 269,252 euros. As a result, the fine for Nissan is also significantly higher at 300,000 euros. In addition, both teams receive a "minor sporting penalty" in the form of a three-hour driving ban, which applies to the first session of pre-season testing in Valencia.

If the teams were proven to have acted in bad faith, dishonestly or in fraudulent manner, the FIA could also have imposed significantly higher penalties in the form of points deductions or even race bans.

Opinion of Tobias Wirtz: Proportionality of the penalties is debatable

Is the penalty for the two teams fair or not? Of course, both Jaguar and Nissan will always categorically deny any sporting advantage due to exceeding the cost cap in season 9.

But particularly with regard to the three-hour driving ban in Valencia, it is debatable whether this penalty is appropriate. Both teams that have now been found to have breached the budget cap are also manufacturer teams. This means that they already had 20 test days available to test their Gen3 Evo cars in recent months anyway, four of which they had to hand over to their customer teams.

With 16 test days per works team, three hours less track time in Valencia is absolutely manageable. After all, Valencia is hardly a representative circuit. Plus: Jaguar and Nissan are allowed to drive another 18 hours on the Circuit Ricardo Tormo with their works drivers anyway. If you include the women's test on Thursday, it's even 21 hours. The FIA's decision will probably only be mildly criticised - if at all - by the two teams concerned.

However, when you consider that Porsche works driver Antonio Felix da Costa was disqualified in Misano in April this year due to an incorrect throttle damper spring, you have to ask yourself whether this is a proportionate decision. Yes, Porsche's offence was of a technical nature. But Jaguar and Nissan spent money that they didn't actually have at their disposal. Would Jaguar have been runner-up in the teams' standings in 2023 if the team had spent almost 90,000 euros less on its preparation in the simulator? No one can answer this question seriously.

Yes, it was the first year with the cost cap, so neither team had any experience with the billing. This is also one of the reasons why the FIA did not immediately impose the harshest penalties. But the truth is that nine of the eleven Formula E teams managed to not exceed the cost cap. In such a case, however, the FIA can't win anyway - regardless of how it decides to penalise such an infringement. Because in the end, everyone feels unfairly treated anyway.