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There is a push among Formula 1 teams to introduce a tighter cost cap limit following what many saw as a lenient punishment handed down to Red Bull.
Red Bull overspent during its 2021 campaign to the tune of £432,652. That equates to a 0.37 percent breach on a cap of $145 million.
The actual overspent was worth £1.864 million, however, the FIA took into consideration miscalculated tax rebates that would have reduced that sum considerably.
Red Bull received a $7 million fine and the loss of 10 percent of its aerodynamic testing (wind tunnel and computational fluid dynamics) for a 12-month period, an outcome team boss Christian Horner described as “draconian.”
It marked the first time the Financial Regulations had been tested after being introduced at the start of last season.
The process highlighted the need for lower thresholds for pre-defined penalty limits.
Currently, a minor breach is one of less than five percent, with a major breach anything above that figure.
For 2021, a $7.25 million overspend would still be considered a ‘minor’ breach.
“I think in hindsight, the five percent is way too high,” said McLaren Racing CEO, Zak Brown.
“It’s something all the teams discussed and agreed upon, so I think that’s something coming out of this that we need to look at, as five percent is a very substantial amount of money in a percentage basis to things like car development, or people to hire, or wherever you may choose to spend the spend the money.”
Horner also believes the point needs to be addressed, though his consideration centred on the uncertainty surrounding potential penalties.
“It’s part of the regulations that, potentially, need to be looked at because the ranging suite of penalties again are totally subjective,” he said.
“And I think this is what’s contributed to a concerted campaign for there to be a draconian penalty on Red Bull for what, at the end of the day, we’re talking probably, what is in contention with the FIA, of a couple hundred thousand dollars.”
Leading teams have historically far exceeded the 2021 cost cap, which has reduced by $5 million for 2022 and will drop to $135 million for 2023.
There have been concessions for the increased cost of utilities but that, for many teams, was insufficient.
Still, for those at the back of the grid, the system, even with its flaws, is a significant improvement.
“When you look at the past before the cost cap, and compare Williams to the top teams that were outstanding, five to 10 times not five percent,” noted Williams boss Jost Capito.
“But nevertheless, it has to be sorted still if we want long term, the same kind of competitiveness.
“When I hear comments that now everybody has the same cost cap and has the same budget, that it’s everything on the same playing level – if teams outspend another team by five to 10 times for a couple of years, they’re starting from a completely different level.
“And then the cost cap makes it very difficult for a team that didn’t have the resource before to catch up.
“We can’t outspend the teams who outspent us two years before, even if we would be in the position to have the money,” he added.
“You don’t have in technical regulations either the five percent.
“But I agree that it’s the first time of these regulations, and they had a massive impact on many teams.
“For the first year to have, there was kind of a threshold of the five percent must have made sense, but it has to be more strict and clear in the future as the FIA and the teams get also the experience with the cost cap regulations.”
