Despite dominating both championships in 2022, Red Bull had been the talk of the paddock for a large portion of the season for all the wrong reasons.
Around the time of the Singapore Grand Prix it was rumoured that Red Bull and Aston Martin had been breached the 2021 cost cap of $145m, which was introduced with the aim of making the sport more competitive and bringing the grid closer together.
Aston Martin were only found guilty of a procedural breach, however Red Bull were proven to have been in a minor breach of the 2021 cost cap and an investigation was launched.
As their breach was categorised as minor, the team were not subject to the huge punishments that come with a major breach, however they were still punished for their overspend both financially and sportingly.
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The team were fined $7m which was to be paid immediately, and also had their wind tunnel testing time for next season cut by ten percent, which team principal Christian Horner called ‘draconian’.
Haas boss Guenther Steiner was critical of the FIA’s punishment for Red Bull in a recent interview, claiming that a reduction in wind tunnel time is not a real punishment.
“The money one, I have no opinion because the money one is no advantage to me, it’s the FIA getting seven million,” said Steiner in conversation with GPFans.
“The technical punishment, I don’t think it’s a real punishment because you take away the wind tunnel [testing], but you don’t take away the money, so you can develop something else.
“Obviously, the wind tunnel is the best way to make the car go quicker aerodynamically, but there are other areas as well where you can make the car go quicker.
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“It’s not a real punishment because the money is still there and now you can develop something different.”
Red Bull were already set to receive less testing time that every other team on the grid after the won the constructors’ championship last season, with testing time now being scaled down based on finishing position.
Chief technical director for the team Adrian Newey has explained that, similar to what has been suggested to Steiner, his team will not be effected too much by the FIA’s penalty, as they will focus they attention elsewhere and just be more selective with what they run in the wind tunnel during the design process for the RB-19.