F1 News: Punishment For Red Bull Revealed After Cost Cap Breach Details Released by FIA
This year of F1 has been making plenty of headlines, but for the wrong reasons. Earlier this year it was rumoured that Red Bull had exceeded the cost cap outlined for the 2021 season. And after the controversial ending at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, it’s no surprise that fans of the sport were furious.
When it was later confirmed that the team had definitely overspent, we all sat back in our chairs wondering what the punishment could be for the team. Could it be the removal of Constructor points, could the team even be disqualified? No, we didn’t expect such things. The FIA hasn’t been overly interested in treating teams fairly across the board with Red Bull often being favoured, and it looks like this example is no different.
It’s now been confirmed by the FIA that there was a minor overspend breach of £1,864,000, equal to 1.6%, after the accounts were adjusted by £5,607,000 by Red Bull in their 2021 Full Year Reporting Documentation.
A statement from the FIA reveals their punishment:
a) RBR must pay a Financial Penalty of USD 7,000,000 to the FIA within 30 days of the date of
execution of the ABA (Article 9.5 of the Financial Regulations);
b) RBR receives a Minor Sporting Penalty in the form of a limitation of RBR’s ability to conduct
aerodynamic Testing during a period of 12 months from the date of execution of the ABA
through the application of a reduction of 10% of the Coefficient C used to calculate the
individual Restricted Wind Tunnel Testing (RWTT) and Restricted Computational Fluid
Dynamics (RCFD) limits applicable to each Team as set out in Article 6 of Appendix 7 to the
FIA Formula 1 Sporting Regulations. For example, if the Coefficient C, based on RBR’s
championship position is 70%, the effective new value of C will be: CNEW=70% x (1-0.10) =
63.0%; and
c) RBR bears the costs incurred by the Cost Cap Administration in connection with the
preparation of the ABA.
