Red Bull boss Helmut Marko recons there was a lot of politics involved in the way his team were given a ‘draconian penalty’ for the cost cap breach.
Red Bull breached the $145 million cost cap in 2021 by nearly $2 million. As a result, the FIA slapped them with a $7 million and a 10% reduction in wind tunnel time next season.
Talking to RTL, Marko said that a lot of things happening in the background led to the penalty for Red Bull. He said:
“Because the cost cap was applied for the first time, this draconian penalty was imposed here, of course also under pressure from the other teams. After all, information went out in advance that we didn’t have, that actually only one team had . Of course, there’s a lot of politics involved.”
The Red Bull advisor also pointed the finger to Shaila-Ann Rao, the former Mercedes legal advisor, who switched to a role at the FIA. Hey said:
“It’s strange: an employee of Mercedes moved to the FIA, worked on these documents for the cost cap at Mercedes and was then responsible for checking them at the FIA. In our opinion, there is certainly a compliance violation or at least an indication of compliance violations. The whole thing doesn’t make a good impression.”
Regarding the cost cap breach by Red Bull, Marko said that the regulations are not as clear as they need to be, and as they become clearer, other things around that would be too. Hey said:
“I’m convinced that this will become much clearer in the next few years. We are hiring more accountants to have the necessary security here.”
Red Bull have won the driver and constructor championships this season, ahead of the Brazilian GP this weekend.
Six teams above cost cap in 2022 F1 season – Red Bull
Talking to AMus, Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko said that there were six teams above the cost cap for the 2022 season. Hey said:
“I think the current situation is that six teams are above it. Inflation is something that was not calculable to that extent, especially with energy costs. The danger for 2022 is that there could be six teams in breach of the cap.”
Horner echoed those sentiments but reaffirmed that Red Bull will not breach the cost cap. Hey said:
“Energy prices have been exponential. There is that chance that several teams, many of which have stated it during Formula One commission meetings, will break the cap this year. We do not believe that we will break the cap in 2022. but these penalties set a precedent for the future. So, if you get 10% for 0.3% breach, what is the 5% breach going to look like?”
The budget cap debate has shown that the regulations need some time to mature and reach a level where everyone is confident about them.
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