Ex-Formula 1 team owner Eddie Jordan has labelled the cost cap as “a farce”, with Red Bull currently dominating the championship despite having breached the cap in 2021, as judged by the FIA last season.
Since the start of the new aerodynamic regulations in 2022, Red Bull have been virtually unstoppable, with the Austrians having won 20 out of the 24 completed races since the new regs came into effect.
This is despite having been penalised for breaching the cap, with the FIA having fined Red Bull $7 million and slapped them with a 10-percent reduction in permitted aerodynamic research for a year.
The penalty only came into effect in the closing stages of last season, with it yet to have any effect on the Milton Keynes-based team’s performance.
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One of the raised issues by many is that they were punished too late, with the side having breached the cap in 2021, yet failed to receive a punishment until the end of 2022.
As a result, they’d already designed the bulk of their 2023 car before they were awarded the penalty, which has resulted in their current dominance being possible.
It’s expected that the penalty will start to impact their performance to towards the end of this season and into 2024, given that they have less wind tunnel runs this year.
Regardless of this, Jordan believes it’s a complete “farce”, with the former Jordan F1 Team owner admitting that the cap is “virtually impossible to police”.
“I think the cost cap is a farce,” he said at London Luxury Afloat.
“Nowadays, if you give somebody a rule, they will get around it. If you push a set of rules in front of a person, they are there to be circumvented. I don’t understand the cost cap because I think it is virtually impossible to police.
“So, I can’t answer to whether it was unfair on Red Bull other than the fact that it didn’t have the desired effect because now look at what they’ve done. I think it is such a big ask to see how anyone is going to compete with Red Bull.”
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With Red Bull and Max Verstappen in particular being so strong once again, Jordan already feels “in my heart” that the championship for this year is done and dusted, with the challenge facing their rivals being “daunting”.
“I would like to say it’s too early, but in my heart, I think it’s done,” Jordan said.
“I just can’t see anyone with the strength, knowledge, speed, and capacity of Red Bull, and especially the drivers. The challenge is daunting.”