Presenter's budget cap fabrication causes mistrust among F1 fans

Yes, the FIA’s investigation took a bit longer than expected, which caused some to question what had caused the delay. Had another team exceeded the limit this time?

The first rumours indicated that it was Aston Martin and those turned out to be correct, but sure a wrong signature couldn’t be the only issue.

The rumor mill cranked into action. Various media claimed that, besides Aston Martin, another team had exceeded the budget cap. The sources turned out to be not so well-informed after all.

On Tuesday, the FIA announced that only Aston Martin had made a minor, procedural error. All the other nine teams had fully cleared the auditing processill d.

The question now is whether those teams that were named will receive apologies from those incorrect accusations. For instance, a TV presentor said live on television: “We’re not naming names, but come on. It’s Mercedes or McLaren. I’ll just say it myself, who cares.”

It matters a lot because often something presenters say on television is taken as fact. This is also evident from the reactions under the FIA’s post on X.

Numerous replies are now being posted suggesting the FIA is protecting a big team. It shows the effect a simple sentence or post can have on the public image of teams.

McLaren in particular, which won the 2024 Constructors’ Championship, is now taking heat online.

Both teams found the statement so nonsensical that they didn’t even want to respond. Knowing that they were fully compliant with the budget cap. However, the fact that the question was asked was appreciated. Something that apparently happens less and less these days, allowing so-called “news” to take on a life of its own.

The crux of the story: McLaren and Mercedes, like the other seven teams, complied with the budget cap regulations. The FIA took more than half a year to investigate this. Complex work was done to get to the bottom of it , so much so that even a missing signature led to a procedural error for Aston Martin.

The idea that McLaren or Mercedes could get away with a budget cap violation without any of the other teams catching wind of it is unthinkable.

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