It appears that worrying comments made by Red Bull team principal Christian Horner and advisor Dr Helmut Marko have had an effect on the Formula 1 community, with the majority of fans wanting the FIA to change the rules for Formula 1’s budget cap.
Red Bull, of course, broke the 2021 budget cap of $145 million, with the governing body having determined that the Austrians made a ‘minor’ breach of $2.2 million.
Interestingly, it was then revealed that the Constructors’ Champions would’ve only breached the cap by $500k, had they filed their tax reports correctly.
This was taken into consideration when the FIA decided what punishment to award the side, a penalty that Horner still labelled as “draconian”.
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Red Bull were fined $7 million and given a 10-percent reduction in permitted aerodynamic research, meaning they’ll receive less wind tunnel time for 12 months.
This penalty was deemed as huge by the Austrians, who only went over the cap by 0.7-percent, with Horner believing the FIA had set a “precedent”.
His comments came after admitting that “six teams” might have breached the cap this year, something which will be revealed in 2023
“I think what we have set is a precedent. And it sets a precedent for 2022,” Horner said.
“And a danger for 2022 is that there could be six teams in breach of the cap. Energy prices have been exponential, but thankfully we’ve been protected from that. But there is that chance that several teams, many of which have stated it during F1 commission meetings, will break the cap this year.”
With that in mind, a poll conducted by Express Sport found that 57-percent of voters want the FIA to change the budget cap rules, with 43-percent wanting it to stay the same.
Inflation has been a huge issue for all the teams, with costs rising in every department across the planet, something that Marko labels as “not calculable”.
“I think the current status is that six teams are over it,” Marko told Auto Motor und Sport.
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“Inflation is something that was not calculable to that extent, especially when it comes to energy costs.”
If six teams have exceeded the cap, then it is likely they’ll receive a penalty far greater than the one that was presented to Red Bull; at least they’ll have to be should their breach have been larger than the Austrians.
Should any side that has breached the budget cap this year be fined less than Red Bull, despite going over the cap by more, then question marks over the legitimacy of the Milton Keynes-based outfit’s punishment will presumably be asked.