World title for Verstappen remains
Red Bull has to pay a fine of millions
10/28/2022, 4:38 p.m
1.6 percent cause tremendous excitement. Red Bull exceeded the budget cap in Formula 1 by this amount in the 2021 season. The racing team now has to pay a fine of millions to the world motorsport association and accept further losses. But the world title stays with Max Verstappen.
Max Verstappen remains Formula 1 World Champion, but his employer Red Bull has to dig deep into his pockets: a fine of seven million dollars and a ten percent reduction in the test program in the wind tunnel, the world association FIA punished Red Bull Racing for exceeding the permitted budget limit in 2021. This was announced by the FIA before the Mexican Grand Prix (Sunday, 9 p.m. CET / Sky and in the ntv.de live ticker).
The punishment is “draconian”, according to the racing team. “It will have an impact on our performance on the track next year,” said team boss Christian Horner. They “reluctantly” accepted the FIA’s offer.
According to the FIA, Red Bull also made procedural errors, which Aston Martin are also accused of. The British racing team has to pay a fine of 450,000 US dollars. In contrast to Red Bull, Aston Martin, Sebastian Vettel’s racing team, did not exceed the spending limit of 148.6 million dollars last year. Both teams had previously reached an agreement with the FIA, the so-called Accepted Breach Agreement is tantamount to an admission of guilt and prevents tougher sanctions.
Basically, the FIA distinguishes between minor and significant overruns in budget violations. The limit is five percent of the permitted amount, i.e. around $7.5 million in 2021. Red Bull’s violation amounted to 1.6 percent, according to the statement by the world association.
According to Red Bull, it was initially below the $150 million limit, but the violation then amounted to $2.2 million. Costs for spare parts and catering are said to have contributed to this, as did severance pay, continued wages for sick employees and additional tax payments.
Wind tunnel limitation hits the team
Harder penalties would only have been possible if Red Bull had further challenged the FIA’s verdict. There had previously been speculation about a point deduction, which could then have had an impact on the 2021 World Cup decision: Verstappen won the title just eight points ahead of Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes.
However, the fine under the budget cap and the restriction of the already short wind tunnel time certainly hit the team. Because the test options are basically based on the sporting performance: the more successful a team is, the less time it has in the wind tunnel.
As the constructors’ world champion in 2022, Red Bull already has disadvantages here compared to the competition. With the second constructors’ title in 2022, this time is reduced again for Red Bull, so that the competition can hope to catch up in the coming season.