Formula 1 was embroiled in controversy in 2021 when Red Bull and Aston Martin breached the budget cap of $145 million allocated by the FIA.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner admitted earlier this year that he can’t rule out another incident for the sport this year, as the FIA wades through the often complex accounting systems of teams.
“You can never be 100 percent sure,” the Red Bull boss said,
“Especially after all the aspects that caused us to go over in 2021.
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“We are convinced that we have stayed comfortably within the cap for 2022, but we will only have that certainty once we have the certificate in our hands,” Horner added.
The 2021 breach saw Red Bull get hit by a $7 million fine, losing 10% of its allocated wind tunnel time.
“I am more than nervous,” Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali said.
“It is up to the FIA to ensure that the checks and certifications are done earlier, so that we can act more quickly if teams have been in violation.”
It is not yet clear whether further violations of the budget cap will result in increasingly severe punishments for previous offenders.
Continuous breaches of the budget cap could see the FIA’s authority be undermined, as teams test how far officials will go to reign them in when they flount the rules.
Ferrari’s team principal Frederic Vasseur has been critical of the FIA’s response to Red Bull’s actions, claiming that the punishment on the title-leaders was “light”
“The penalty for me was very low,” Vasseur told reporters.
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“If you consider that basically we will improve a bit less than a second over the season in terms of aero, you get a penalty of 10% of this it’s one-tenth and as it’s not a linear progression it’s probably less.
“And you are allowed to spend this money somewhere else, so it means for me the penalty is marginal
“They did a good job but I’m still convinced that the penalty was very light. If you consider the rate of development that we have during the season, if you consider the fact that if you have a 10% ban it’s at the end, that means it’s not something that’s linear,” he added.