The world champion racing team Red Bull has violated the budget cap in Formula 1, but does not have to fear any severe sanctions.
The world automobile association FIA announced on Monday that the budget check for the past season at Red Bull revealed “slight additional expenditure”. In addition, the team of the now two-time world champion Max Verstappen and Aston Martin had problems with the control process.
Verstappen’s world title not in danger
The Fia now wants to examine possible sanctions against the two racing teams. The umbrella organization pointed out that the teams’ offenses can result in financial and sporting penalties.
However, a mandatory deduction of championship points in the constructors’ ranking only occurs if the cost limit is significantly exceeded. Presumably, Red Bull will probably end up with a fine.
The budget cap is around 151.8 million euros, up to five percent additional expenditure, i.e. around seven million dollars, is considered “minor” according to the definition. More severe penalties such as subsequent point deductions would only threaten if the expenditure was significantly higher. Verstappen’s first world title is probably not in danger afterwards.
Red Bull reacts with “surprise and disappointment”
Red Bull reacted to the Fia results with “surprise and disappointment”. The team remained confident that its 2021 spending was below the limit. Therefore, the racing team will now check the Fia documents and possible measures, it said in a statement.
Budget-determining topic of the past few days
The budget 2021 issue was the dominant topic of the past few days, with the Mercedes and Ferrari teams, beaten by Red Bull, publicly criticizing several times. Ferrari sports director Laurent Mekies calculated: “7 million, that’s 70 engineers, and 70 engineers give you a lot of lap time.”
Verstappen’s racing team had repeatedly sharply rejected the speculation about additional spending and even threatened legal action, and the FIA also repeatedly spoke of “unfounded speculation and assumptions”. Actually, there should be clarity on Wednesday, but the FIA could not meet the deadline they had set themselves.
Cost cap is intended to increase equal opportunities
The cost cap is intended to increase equal opportunities, even if important items such as driver salaries are not included. The plan was worked out jointly by all teams.