Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has come out in defence of his team, as rivals continue to demand the title holders face harsher sanctions for violating the 2021 cost cap.
In a tightly fought season, Red Bull were found to have committed a “minor” breach of the $145 million spending limit teams are bound by.
As punishment for the violation, Red Bull were fined $7 million and given a 10% reduction in their wind tunnel/CFD testing time during the 12 month period covering the 2023 season.
Ferrari’s Frederic Vasseur has argued that the dominant performance on display from Red Bull shows that the FIA’s penalty was “very light,” as it’s hardly impacted the team.
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Horner has urged teams to wait until later in the season to see how damaging the penalty is for Red Bull, highlighting how there are a lot of races to come.
“Everybody’s got an opinion and I think everybody’s free to have an opinion,” Horner told Sky Sports News
“The team have done a great job over the winter on limited wind-tunnel time that we’ve had to develop this car, and of course that will have an impact later into the year and on next year.
“So on a snapshot of three races, I think it’s still hugely premature in [terms of] this season, there’s an awful lot of racing still to go.”
Red Bull has taken an early lead in the Constructors’ Championship, 58 points clear of second-placed Aston Martin and more than double the points of third-placed Mercedes.
However, Horner isn’t taking things for granted with only three races completed and 20 more rounds to go.
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“There’s a lot of things that can change. We’re hearing of big updates coming for both Ferrari and Mercedes when we get back to Europe,” Horner explained
So we’re certainly not taking anything for granted, we’re just focused on ourselves, doing the best job we can within the constraints that we have.
“We’re doing the best that we can with what we’ve got and we know that it’s tough penalty, it’s one that we’re taking on the chin and we’re applying ourselves in the best way that we possibly can.”