Red Bull has been handed a financial penalty and reduction is aerodynamic test percentage after breaching F1 Cost Cap rule by the FIA.
After it was found that Red Bull and Aston Martin have breached the 2021 F1 Cost Cap rule, the FIA were deciding the extent of penalty that either team would be handed as a relevant hit for the future. Various offences were discussed but calls for title relinquish were absurd.
As Zak Brown noted in his letter, the penalty they expected was related to financial hit especially reduction in cost cap budget and decrease in wind tunnel time. The sanction is similar to that as the FIA released a detailed report of accepted terms by Red Bull.
In short, the FIA has handed a financial penalty to Red Bull amounting to USD 7,000,000 within the 30 days along with bearing the cost incurred by the administration in preparing the ABA. Another significant hit is the decrease in aero test time.
There is a reduction of 10% of the wind tunnel time for Red Bull for 2023. As things stand, as the 2022 constructors’ champions, the team is already to get the least amount of wind tunnel time at 70% but the penalty means, they will only get 63.0% now.
The FIA revealed various areas where Red Bull exceeded the cost cap with the total amount coming at £1,864,000 (1.6%). The procedural mistake from the team amounted to £5,607,000 where the total amount they reported was £114,293,000.
Here’s the full penalty statement:
a) RBR must pay a Financial Penalty of USD 7,000,000 to the FIA within 30 days of the date of execution of the ABA (Article 9.5 of the Financial Regulations);
b) RBR receives a Minor Sporting Penalty in the form of a limitation of RBR’s ability to conduct aerodynamic Testing during a period of 12 months from the date of execution of the ABA through the application of a reduction of 10% of the Coefficient C used to calculate the individual Restricted Wind Tunnel Testing (RWTT) and Restricted Computational Fluid Dynamics (RCFD) limits applicable to each Team as set out in Article 6 of Appendix 7 to the FIA Formula 1 Sporting Regulations. For example, if the Coefficient C, based on RBR’s championship position is 70%, the effective new value of C will be: CNEW=70% x (1-0.10) = 63.0%; and
c) RBR bears the costs incurred by the Cost Cap Administration in connection with the preparation of the ABA.
Additionally, the FIA noted that the team ‘acted cooperatively throughout the review process and has sought to provide additional information and evidence when requested in a timely manner, that this is the first year of the full application of the Financial Regulations and that there is no accusation or evidence that RBR has sought at any time to act in bad faith, dishonestly or in fraudulent manner, nor has it wilfully concealed any information from the Cost Cap Administration’.
Here’s the full report: https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/rbr_public_summary_aba_-_article_6.32_1.pdf
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