Red Bull fined $7 million for F1 cost cap breach

Red Bull has been fined $7 million (just over £6 million) and hit with an aero development restriction for next season as a result of breaching the F1 cost cap in 2021.

Initially the team strenuously denied that its cost cap submission was over the £118,036,000 limit set by the FIA, but it has now entered into an ‘Accepted Breach Agreement’ which says the team was judged to have overspent by £1,864,000.

The document mentions various areas in which Red Bull ‘incorrectly excluded and/or adjusted costs’, including catering, employee social security and non-F1 activities, among others.

However, a statement released by the FIA alongside the published agreement says “that Red Bull Racing has acted cooperatively throughout the review process and has sought to provide additional information and evidence when requested in a timely manner". They don’t think Red Bull was cheating, in other words.

Meanwhile Aston Martin has been fined $450,000 for a 'procedural breach' relating to the paperwork it filed as part of its submission to the FIA, something Red Bull was punished for.

Although the team is being fined $7 million, there won’t be a reduction in the amount of money it is allowed to spend next season, as was rumoured.

And its 10 per cent reduction in wind tunnel and CFD (computational fluid dynamics) testing that teams used to develop their uber-complicated aero designs is technically only seven per cent: remember, as constructors’ champions this season they were only due 70 per cent of a fixed amount of time in 2023 anyway, so a 10 per cent hit takes them down to 63 per cent. Confused? You’re not alone.

And you can bet your bottom dollar that the other teams will be dismayed with the punishment: they would argue that if Red Bull had wanted to serve fancier puddings in its hospitality suite, it should’ve cut down on the performance upgrades…

Anyway, the Accepted Breach Agreement was signed on 26 Oct, so the testing restrictions will be in force for the next 12 months. And according to the document, the “decision of the Cost Cap Administration to enter into the ABA constitutes its final decision resolving this matter and is not subject to appeal.” That’s the end of it, in other words.

Or is it? Have your say in the usual place below…