Red Bull’s penalty for breaching Formula 1’s budget cap last year has been revealed.
On Thursday, it emerged the newly crowned Constructors’ champions had reached an Accepted Breach Agreement with the FIA after being the only team to commit a “minor overspend” of the $145m limit in 2021.
And now the details have been revealed with Red Bull exceeding the cap by $2.2m, however, the governing body explained that had a tax credit been properly applied, that figure would have been reduced dramatically to $500k.
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As a result, the Milton Keynes-based outfit has agreed to a $7m fine and a 10 percent reduction in permitted aerodynamic testing time for 2023.
The latter is a notable punishment because, as champions, Red Bull will already have the least allowed wind tunnel of all 10 teams under F1’s sliding scale.
Therefore, reducing that amount by a further 10% will put them at a significant disadvantage versus their rivals in the development race next year.
In a statement, the FIA also denied there was any bad intent from Red Bull regarding their breach.
“Red Bull Racing was found to be in breach, however, the Cost Cap Administration recognised that Red Bull Racing has acted cooperatively throughout the review process and has sought to provide additional information and evidence when requested in a timely manner,” it read.
“That this is the first year of the full application of the Financial Regulations, there is no accusation or evidence that RBR has sought at any time to act in bad faith, dishonestly or in a fraudulent manner, nor has it wilfully concealed any information from the Cost Cap Administration.”
Red Bull themselves are set to address the matter in a press conference scheduled for 5:30 pm UK time on Friday.