Top 5 biggest fines F1 teams have paid over the years

In 2022, despite winning the constructor's championship for the first time since 2013, the Red Bull F1 team were fined $7 million by the FIA for their budget cap infringements, however, the fine is not the biggest in the sport.

Let's take a look at the five biggest fines that F1 teams had to pay.

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Aston Martin [2022] – $450,000 (€426,000)

The Aston Martin F1 team were given a $450,000 fine for a procedural breach under the new Financial Regulations for the 2021 season. 2021 was the first time a budget cap had been introduced by the sport to bring the grid closer.

Each of the 10 teams had to hand over detailed accounts to the FIA for analysis and to ensure conformity with the $140,000,000 cap. Two teams were found to have breached the regulations and Aston Martin were one of them along with Red Bull.

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Ferrari (2002) – $1,000,000 (€945,870)

The Italian team are no strangers to controversy in the sport. In their most dominant period, they were fined $1 million for implementing team orders at the 2002 Austrian GP.

Ferrari instructed their drivers Ruben Barrichello and Michael Schumacher to swap positions before the finish line, which took the win away from the Brazilian.

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Turkish Grand Prix organizers [2006] – $5,000,000 (€4,730,900)

As per PlanetF1, Turkish Grand Prix organizers were given a $5 million slap on the wrist for some unusual podium politics, as on TV, Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat was introduced as “the President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus”.

This did not go well with the Cypriot community in Greece, nor with then-FIA President Max Mosley as this was a breach of the sport’s political neutrality stance.

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Red Bull Racing [2022] – $7,000,000 (€6,624,730)

Red Bull were found to have committed a ‘Minor Overspend Breach’ of just under £1.9 million ($2.3 million) after the FIA concluded its analysis of the financials of the team for the 2021 season.

Having committed the breach, Red Bull were offered an Accepted Breach Agreement which included a fine of $7 million and a 10% reduction in wind tunnel development time for 2023. It is the second-biggest monetary fine in F1 history.

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McLaren F1 [2007] – $100,000,000 (€94,626,000)

McLaren were fined a whopping $100 million for their involvement in the infamous 'SpyGate' incident between McLaren’s Mike Coughlan and former Ferrari employee Nigel Stepney exchanging information. Apart from the monetary fine, they were disqualified from the 2007 championship.