The Formula 1 team Red Bull has been fined seven million dollars and a 10% reduction in the development time of its single-seater in the wind tunnel, for having exceeded the 2021 budget cap, announced on Friday the International Automobile Federation (FIA).
On the other hand, the FIA did not inflict a retroactive loss of points on Red Bull for this "minor" 1.6% overshoot of the cap (£1.864 million).
The team therefore retains its title of world champion among drivers obtained by the Dutchman Max Verstappen last year.
BREAKING: Red Bull Racing issued with financial and sporting sanctions for breaching the 2021 budget cap pic.twitter.com/gqtGrRiWwB
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 28, 2022
Red Bull is the only team to have exceeded the budget cap, set for the first time in F1 for the 2021 season and then set at 145 million dollars.
The FIA has praised Red Bull's "cooperation" in resolving the case, which was revealed by the body on October 10, and believes that Red Bull did not intend to act "dishonestly or in bad faith". .
Another mitigating circumstance according to the FIA, it was “the first year” of the financial regulations, “a very complex set of rules” to which the ten teams of the elite of world motorsport had to submit.
Red Bull now has thirty days to pay its fine.
It is also up to the structure based in Milton Keynes (United Kingdom) to pay the costs of the procedure.
At the sporting level, the team of the double world champion 2021 and 2022 Verstappen escapes the worst of the sanctions which were in the hands of the FIA – withdrawal of points, downgrading, disqualification a posteriori.
It will nevertheless have to count for twelve months on a reduced wind tunnel time, crucial for the development of future single-seaters.
This time is also inversely proportional to the ranking of the teams in the world championship.
And as Red Bull have been crowned champions in 2022, they already enjoy the shortest wind tunnel time on the F1 grid.
Here's how the Formula 1 team commented on its sanction: "Following the findings of the Cost Cap Administration, a procedural breach by Red Bull under Financial Regulation was retained for costs amounting to a total of 5,607,000 pounds in its documentation for the full year 2021. The breach ultimately upheld was 1,864,000 pounds ($2.2 million) or 1.6% , but the FIA acknowledged that if a tax credit had been correctly applied, it would have been 432,652 pounds ($0.5 million), or 0.37%.
»
The accepted breach agreement states:
“there is no allegation or evidence that Red Bull at any time sought to act in bad faith, dishonestly or fraudulently, or deliberately withhold information from administration. cost cap.
»
