Red Bull has been hit with a $7m (£6.07m) fine and a 10% reduction in permitted aerodynamic research for breaking Formula 1’s budget cap.
Red Bull has spent more than £1.86m in 2021, governing body the FIA said.
Their financial penalty is not a reduction in their authorized spending next year, when the budget cap is $135m.
A 10% reduction in the time they can use wind tunnel or computational fluid dynamics to design their car.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said.
“It’s a huge amount. Between 0.25 seconds and 0.5 seconds off the lap time. It comes from now and will be in place for a 12-month period and will have an impact on the development of our 2023 car.” “
The punishment comes after Red Bull admitted they were at fault and entered into a so-called “admitted infringement agreement” with the FIA.
“Why did we accept it? We felt it was in everyone’s best interest to close the book,” Horner added.
Horner insisted the higher spending would “absolutely not” taint Max Verstappen’s 2021 title.
He told Laura Scott of BBC Sport, “Verstappen [was] a much-deserved champion. “[There will] inevitably [be] partisan support from both sides but the fact is that it worked, he got the year. K’s final GP race win and 2021 is now consigned to the history books.”
Horner admitted that Red Bull had not taken the opportunity to do a cost cap dry run in 2020, which many other teams did.
He said he considered his interim submission in April 2021 to be his dry run, and that he had received no feedback from the FIA.
The FIA previously said only that Red Bull had committed a “minor” breach, amounting to a 5 percent cap or $7.25 million in 2021, when Verstappen won his first title, without further details.
An FIA statement detailed Red Bull’s mistakes, saying the team “incorrectly excluded and/or adjusted costs totaling £5,607,000” in 2021.
The corresponding costs adjusted by the FIA for the team overspend infringement were £1,864,000.
This accounts for about 5% and an adjusted overspend of 1.6%.
A total of 13 points of non-compliance cover turnover and fixed costs for their new power unit, and costs related to catering, social security, apprenticeships, inventory (unused parts) and non-F1 activities.
The fine has to be paid within the next 30 days.
The FIA said if Red Bull had applied the correct treatment for the notional tax credit, the team could have exceeded the limit by just £432,652.
Horner pointed out that this was a “0.37% overspend” and therefore “a 10% reduction is too severe”.
“There is no allegation or evidence that Red Bull Racing has at any time attempted to act in bad faith, dishonesty or fraud, nor has it knowingly attempted to do so,” the FIA statement added. No information has been withheld from the Caste Cap Administration.”
