Big Tea wrote: ↑Tue Jun 27, 2023 9:15 pm
Just_a_fan wrote: ↑Tue Jun 27, 2023 9:11 pm
Big Tea wrote: ↑Tue Jun 27, 2023 9:07 pm
I suppose it is the same as your local workshop where a mechanic is working on several cars a day and charges actual hours, and if a Tec of a particular stripe is required only the time spent on that vehicle is charged to the owner.
At the end of the day or week all the paperwork goes to someone who makes an actual bill.
More elaborate, but if 'time' is being charged and someone has al the paperwork, its traceable.
Exactly. The big word there is "if". If someone keeps a record and if someone charges it appropriately. Easy to hide stuff - the US Government/Military has done it for decades with their "black projects".
But that sort of thing is not on the books at all. If the auditor knows how many people are employed and how many hours are worked it can be found. If hours are deliberately not being booked then that is a real no-no and most places not have to have everyone booked in and out for fire regs so it is probably too much of a risk for them once it has been highlighted as a 'watched area'.
People like Newey are not charged at all, so will not fall under this. Use of other facilities by him will if it falls under the cap, and other people work there so till be on the books and will not correspond to running with no one there.
Edit, there are ways around everything, but then it is black or white cheating or not
If someone wants to circumvent the cost cap by the use of off-book working (using information from a non-F1 company), then they are, by definition, not recording that stuff anywhere where an auditor can find it. Sure, it will be recorded so that the accounts balance but it won't be down as "J. Bloggs, CFD work on F1 wing".
People aren't booked in for fire regs (well, not in the UK), they're booked in so management know they're at work and not skiving off i.e. to show that they were present during their contacted hours.
Newey charges as a consultant, in effect. But that work definitely falls under the cost cap - he's the teams TD, after all. Anyway, the teams are allowed to ignore, for cost cap purposes, a small number (3?) of their top salaries and Newey will no doubt fit in that if required.
If you are more fortunate than others, build a larger table not a taller fence.