McLaren has been fined €400,000 by a series it doesn't compete in any more.

The now defunct McLaren Formula E Team has been found to have breached the Formula E teams cost cap in the 2024-25 Formula E season, the last of its three seasons in the all-electric world championship.

The breach, which has been described by the FIA as a "minor overspend", arose primarily from "costs associated with the orderly wind-down of the team following its decision to cease participation in the championship at the conclusion of Season 11 (2024-25)".

The holding company of the team, McLaren Electric Racing Ltd, which still trades, has subsequently signed an Accepted Breach Agreement (ABA) and must pay a fine of €400,000.

In the official public summary of the ABA, it states that McLaren voluntarily notified the cost cap administration of the minor overspend breach of 4.54% of the cost cap, prior to any formal investigation.

The Cost Cap Administration did not find "any indication that [McLaren] acted in bad faith, dishonestly or in a fraudulent manner or wilfully concealed any information from the Cost Cap Administration".

McLaren’s reported costs in the official reporting documentation, for the period ending on September 30, 2025, was £12,802,394. This exceeded the cost cap of £12,246,766, an overspend of £555,628.

In addition to the fine of €400,000, to be paid within 30 days, McLaren will also pay "reasonable costs" incurred by the Cost Cap Administration in connection with the preparation of the ABA. McLaren has waived its right to appeal or otherwise challenge the ABA.

Porsche, Jaguar and Nissan have all had sanctions for overspends in the official Formula E cost cap, with Nissan and Jaguar serving sporting penalties for their breaches which came in the first cost cap year of 2022-23. They each served a half-day ban from the first day of the official pre-season test at Jarama in November 2024.

Nissan was also fined €300,000 for an ‘under 2% breach’ (equivalent to €269,252), while Jaguar was hit with a financial penalty of €100,000 for a 0.6% infringement, which equated to £73,849.

What happened to McLaren in Formula E

The McLaren Formula E, known as NEOM McLaren, in deference to its Saudi sponsor, was born from the team that won the 2021 and 2022 Formula E world championships, Mercedes EQ.

When Mercedes gave notice of its intent to leave Formula E in August of 2021, it did so with a year’s grace, meaning that Stoffel Vandoorne’s title he secured at Seoul in August 2022 was the last act of Mercedes in Formula E.

By that time its team principal, Ian James, had an agreement from McLaren that the existing team could use the brand as a racing name to run a customer team with Nissan hardware for the Gen3 rules set.

Rene Rast and Jake Hughes were drafted in as drivers to replace the F1-bound Nyck de Vries and Vandoorne who had already committed to move to the DS Penske squad for Gen3.

The team scored pole positions and podiums in its first season, before Rast's replacement Sam Bird took the teams only Formula E win with a memorable last lap overtake on Mitch Evans to win at Sao Paulo in March 2024.

But by January 2025 rumours were already swirling that NEOM could curtail its involvement with the team and by the spring it went public with the news that McLaren would exit at the end of the 2025 season.

James was again faced with attempting to salvage the operation and came close with a plan to hook up with the Stellantis group of automotive brands for this season falling through at a late stage, influenced to a large degree by Maserati - a Stellantis brand - fighting a similar battle for survival.

By June last year time had run out and the following month McLaren started its wind-down of the operation, returning its licence to Formula E Operations and ceasing to operate, meaning that the grid was reduced from 22 cars to 20 for the present campaign.