In 2021, relations between Red Bull and the FIA became strained due to an alleged breach of the cost cap by Red Bull. While Red Bull claimed that the breach was not in development but in other services like food or catering, many other teams were unimpressed by the reasons cited, though the breach was reported at only 1.6%.
When all the dust had settled, the FIA handed Red Bull a $7M penalty and a 10% decrease in testing time to reprimand them for the cost cap breach. Rival teams like Mercedes and Ferrari, however, find the penalty to be a mere slap on the wrist.
Ferrari team principal unimpressed after Red Bull gets lenient decision
Ferrari’s team principal Fred Vasseur was one of the many personalities unimpressed with the FIA’s lenient reprimand of Red Bull’s rule breach. Speaking in an interview with La Gazzetta Dello Sport, Vassuer blasts the FIA’s method of governance in this regard.
Ferrari team boss Frederic Vasseur says Red Bull should have received a sporting penalty, because “a technical advantage will translate into a sporting advantage”.#F1 #RedBullhttps://t.co/3pkVI1Uk75
— Mercedes F1 News – SilverArrows.Net (@SilverArrowsNet) August 15, 2023
“A penalty like last year really isn’t severe,” Vasseur claims.“If it should be necessary again, such a penalty should be much heavier. You have to keep in mind that a technical advantage will translate into a sporting advantage.
Speaking on the near-negligible nature of the breach (1.6%), he continues, “A 5 per cent violation is not small, it is big. If you have a budget of $135 million, $80 million of that already goes to personnel, another $20 million to race costs, materials, brakes and so on. Making four chassis at the beginning of the season also costs about $20 million. Then you already arrive at about $120-125 million. This is about the same for everyone. That leaves about $10 million to develop. If you go a few million over your budget, then you should not look at the total $135 million, as has been said.”
He concludes by emphasizing on the need to be strict about regulations, to avoid running the risk of all teams breaching the cost cap with hopes of paying a bare penalty (here, $7M).
Why did Red Bull get fined $7M and ATR reduction?
In early October of 2021, the FIA announced that Red Bull Racing had breached the $145 million cost cap imposed on teams by a degree of 1.6%. The penalty imposed in light of this was a $7 million fine as well as a 10% reduction in testing time for 12 months.
In its report, the FIA noted the bona fides (acting in good faith) conduct of Red Bull, further listing multiple areas where the team misinterpreted the regulations, leading to the breach. At the time the penalty was imposed, team principal Christian Horner made claims that the penalty was “an enormous amount of money,” and further made complaints about the reduction in aerodynamic testing time.
Do you think Mercedes and Ferrari are right in claiming that the cost cap was a slap on the wrist? Or was it ‘overkill’ as Horner claimed when the penalty was imposed? Comment what you think down below!
