The Red Bull Formula 1 team remains confident that it didn’t overspend last year’s $145 million budget cap, stating it is “surprised” by the FIA’s findings.
On Monday, the FIA announced that two teams, one of which was Red Bull, breached the financial regulations in 2021.
The other team named in the report was Aston Martin, who is deemed to have been at fault for a “procedural” breach.
However, Red Bull has allegedly carried out a “minor overspend” according to the FIA, which could see financial and/or sporting penalties implemented.
When the news was first reported in Singapore that Red Bull had breached the cap, team boss Christian Horner asserted that it had not gone over the quota.
The team says that it will review the FIA’s findings “carefully” as it seeks to understand where the two parties aren’t aligned.
“We note the findings by the FIA of ‘minor overspend breaches of the financial regulations’ with surprise and disappointment,” read a statement from the team.
“Our 2021 submission was below the cost cap limit, so we need to carefully review the FIA’s findings as our belief remains that the relevant costs are under the 2021 cost cap amount.
“Despite the conjecture and positioning of others, there is of course a process under the regulations with the FIA which we will respectfully follow while we consider all the options available to us.”
The news comes just one day after Max Verstappen sealed his second F1 title with the team.
Red Bull is also on course to take its first Constructors’ Championship since 2013 with four races remaining in the 2022 season.
However, it is not expected that any potential punishment will impact Red Bull’s championship success in 2021 and 2022, given that it falls under the category of a “minor” breach.
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You really have to wonder if they were set up, and I say this as someone who is NOT a Red Bull fan (at all). But, a guilty party doesn’t usually encourage an investigation against them unless they are really stupid, which RB is not. Just seems odd that it was Wolff seemed to know this happened before anyone else, and a former Mercedes lawyer is now a higher-up at the FIA (not to mention Brawn, the king of cheaters). While this might all seem crazy, what you must understand is how much money is at stake with winning in F1. This isn’t Supercars, MotoGP or even Nascar. This is mega money, and this is why the F1 paddock has always been so political, often times even crossing over into real-world politics. People like Wolff (and even Horner to some degree) think like politicians (i.e., criminals). We saw this 15-20 years ago with Ferrari when they were basically the Italian mafia of the F1, in bed with the FIA, drug smuggling, creating espionage scandals (leading to a possible murder), using connections at Shell Oil to have specific tarmac laid down at new tracks so they could gain an advantage, etc. And look at those who tried to fight fairly from 2001-2004/2007 — they got eaten alive and even punished for what Ferrari were actually doing.
Well they’re never going to say “yeah, we know we did it,” are they…? I’m surprised people think they’re surprised.
Some pundits are calling for the penalty to hurt. The worst thing about this is that for the penalty to hurt, it will also hurt the sport, as it would call on a points deduction that would effectively overturn last year’s championship result. Some people would like to see that anyway, but while I didn’t agree with the decisions made last year I’d hate to see it being overturned now as it would damage the face of the sport to the wider public.
On top of that, Max – who would be a deserved F1 champion this year anyway – was handed a second WDC on Sunday through another interpretation of the rules. That’s two-for-two. Messsing with the championships would be painful for more than just Red Bull.
Instead, the penalty should be that Red Bull pays the shortfall that W Series have this year that will enable that sport to continue, not just this year but next and beyond too, and ensure junior feeder series that promote diversity and inclusion can bring more to motorsport as a whole.