While Red Bull and Mercedes seem to have moved on from the drama of the cost cap breach in 2022, the teams’ fans, however, are not willing to let it slide.
Lewis Hamilton celebrated his 38th birthday on Saturday (January 7) and wishes poured in for the Briton from all corners of the globe. Red Bull coincidentally took to social media on the same day to post a video of a fan-made cake that’s modeled on Sergio Perez’s helmet.
Though many replies to the post praised the cake for how real and accurate it looked, many couldn’t resist bringing up the team’s breach of the cost cap.
One fan warned the team not to repeat the mistake, writing:
“Don’t blow the budget”
Another fan predicted that the team would breach the cost cap once again:
“I see you guys are going to exceed the budget cap again” @redbullracing I see you guys are going to exceed the budget cap again@redbullracing I see you guys are going to exceed the budget cap again
Here are a few more fan reactions to the Milton Keynes-based team’s Twitter post:
@redbullracing You better keep an eye on the cost cap… That cake could be put you 6M beyond the cost cap. @redbullracing You better keep an eye on the cost cap… That cake could be put you 6M beyond the cost cap @redbullracing Clearly not bothered about this years cost cap either… @redbullracing Clearly not bothered about this years cost cap either… @redbullracing Catering, is this the overspend, and it does smack that you post this on Lewis Hamilton’s birthday, you lot have some hate inside you #RedBile@redbullracing Catering, is this the overspend, and it does smack that you post this on Lewis Hamilton’s birthday, you lot have some hate inside you #RedBile
Red Bull’s cost cap break: A summary
The FIA Cost Cap regulations were first announced as part of the provisional rule changes for 2021. While the technical regulations were pushed back to 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the financial regulations remained.
The cap was set at $175 million for the 2021 Formula 1 season and then reduced to $147.4 million on May 27, 2020. The cap doesn’t include marketing costs, race driver fees, and the costs of the teams’ three highest-paid personnel .
Reports of a breach in cost cap rules came to light in early October and the FIA announced on October 10 that two teams had breached the financial regulations for 2021. The announcement came one day after Max Verstappen sealed the World Drivers’ Championship in Japan.
While talks began between the FIA and Red Bull Racing about the cost cap breach, it was announced on October 23 that they were put on hold following the death of Red Bull co-founder Dietrich Mateschitz.
Five days later, the FIA revealed that Red Bull entered into an Accepted Breach Agreement (ABA), which meant that they had to pay $7 million to the FIA within 30 days of the date of execution of the ABA. The team also received a 10% reduction in allocated restricted Wind Tunnel Testing and CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) limits.
The FIA also stated that Aston Martin were fined $450,000 for a procedural breach of the cost cap.
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