Recent reports suggest Adrian Newey's status could be at the centre of the Red Bull breach of last year's budget cap.
On Monday, the FIA confirmed the Milton Keynes-based outfit was the only Formula 1 team to have committed a "minor overspend" of less than five percent above the $145m cap in place in 2021.
Various theories have emerged as to why Red Bull went over ranging from sick pay to catering bills, but now Germany's Auto Motor und Sport reports Newey has emerged as the main sticking point.
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The exact argument between Red Bull and the FIA is a little murky but is understood to revolve around whether Newey is an employee of Red Bull or a contractor.
According to the FIA, he is an employee and therefore his estimated $10m per year salary should be included.
But, Red Bull says Newey is listed as a contractor via his own company and is therefore exempt from the cap altogether.
There is another caveat too in that the top three earners at a team are also excluded from the cap, but there are mixed reports on if Newey is among them.
If not, his hefty salary could explain Red Bull's breach if there's an additional $10m that the team had not expected to be included.
And even if Newey is in the top three, the next highest earner, who Red Bull has listed in their allowed exemptions, would likely add a few million dollars too.
So a resolution to the Newey matter, plus a few other clarifications Red Bull is seeking, could make all the difference as to whether they did breach the budget cap in 2021 or not.
And whatever the outcome, motorsport advisor Helmut Marko has been keen to make one point clear, Max Verstappen's 2021 F1 championship is not at risk.
“I don’t want to say too much, just this much,” he told F1-Insider. “We still believe that we didn’t break the cost cap rule at all.
“Discussions with the FIA are ongoing. Let’s see what finally comes out of it.
“But rumours Max could lose his World title in 2021, for example, are complete nonsense.
“The past has shown that even extreme violations of the regulations were punished very mildly by the FIA.”
