The fallout from Red Bull’s cost cap punishment begins
The political debate over Red Bull's overspending continues in Mexico with clear tension between competitors over the severity of the penalties handed to the reigning champions.
Red Bull has been penalised for breaking last year’s cost cap, though some think the punishment does not go far enough.
McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl made a somewhat revealing comment to Sky Sports F1 on Friday in Mexico.
He told the broadcaster he had not watched a cost cap-related press conference by Red Bull team principal Christian Horner. Seidl explained: “It was another fairytale hour probably, not really interested in that.”
The sniping comment towards Horner is a reflection of the ever-increasing tension between Red Bull and other competitors over the cost cap saga.
The whole fiasco has been politically charged for weeks now since overspending allegations were first made against Red Bull in Singapore.
On Friday, the FIA confirmed Red Bull did breach the cap by USD$2.1 million in 2021. The FIA also found the breach could’ve been just USD$500k (0.37% over the cap) if Red Bull had not overpaid a certain tax.
As punishment, Red Bull has been fined USD$7 million and their aerodynamic testing time for the next 12 months will be reduced by 10%.
But not everyone is happy with that.
Seidl, the McLaren team principal, called for stronger penalties in the future, telling Sky Sports F1: “[Red Bull’s] penalty clearly doesn’t fit the breach”.
McLaren CEO Zak Brown - who previously said the cost cap breach “constituted cheating” - echoed Seidl, telling the BBC: “the sanctions have to be much stronger in the future”.
Discussion on social media was rampant among fans too. It was not hard to find comments describing Red Bull’s punishment as lenient.
Freelance Formula 1 journalist Chris Medland ran a straw poll about it on Twitter, which found that 55% of people thought the punishment was too lenient; 35% thought it was just right; while 10% thought it was too harsh. (Over 56,000 people voted).
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff weighed in too, telling Motorsport.com: “I think as for any penalty, for us, it's too little.”
Still, Wolff said that for Red Bull, the punishment would be “too much”, an assessment which rang true later on Friday afternoon.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner fronted a press conference in Mexico, where he described the aero-testing punishment as draconian.
“I’ve heard people reporting today [that it] is an insignificant amount – let me tell you now, that is an enormous amount … that represents anywhere between a quarter and half-a-second worth of lap time,” Horner said.
He also made a comment aimed squarely at those who thought the punishment wasn’t enough.
According to Motorsport.com, he said: “I'm sure if you burned our wind tunnel down, it wouldn't be enough.”
Author’s note: Coverage like this is only possible thanks to the outlets who are on the ground doing valuable reporting. This piece aims to be a quick and informative overview of how people feel about Red Bull’s punishment. It relies heavily on the reporting of those other outlets and credit has been given where possible. Still, here is some of their coverage, if you wish to read more about what’s going on.
BBC: Red Bull: F1 team receive $7m fine & 10% aero research reduction
Motorsport.com: Red Bull handed $7m fine, aero testing reduction for cost cap breach
Motorsport.com: Wolff: Penalty "too little" for Mercedes, "too much" for Red Bull
Motorsport.com: Red Bull: F1 cost cap breach penalty "enormous" and "draconian"
The Race: Red Bull thinks breach punishment could make it 0.5s slower