Red Bull cost cap breach ‘constitutes cheating’, says McLaren boss

McLaren boss Zak Brown says Red Bull’s breach of F1’s 2021 budget cap “constitutes cheating” in a letter written to the FIA.

Red Bull, who won last year’s Drivers Chamiponship with Max Verstappen, were found guilty of a “minor overspend” of the cost cap, having spent more than the £114m budget - though the breach was not over the 5% “major breach” threshold of £5.7m.

The team said in a statement that they were “surprised and disappointed” with the findings, insisting that their “2021 submission was below the cost cap limit.”

The FIA will now decide on a penalty - ranging from a fine to points deductions - and McLaren CEO Brown insists Christian Horner’s team should be penalised both financially and on track/in car development.

“Any team who have overspent have gained an unfair advantage both in the current and following year’s car development,” he writes, in a letter seen by the BBC and sent to FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem.

“The overspend breach, and possibly the procedural breaches, constitute cheating by offering a significant advantage across technical, sporting and financial regulations.

“The FIA has run an extremely thorough, collaborative and open process. We have even been given a one-year dress rehearsal (in 2020), with ample opportunity to seek any clarification if details were unclear. So, there is no reason for any team to now say they are surprised.

“The bottom line is any team who has overspent has gained an unfair advantage both in the current and following year’s car development. We don’t feel a financial penalty alone would be a suitable penalty for an overspend breach or a serious procedural breach. There clearly needs to be a sporting penalty in these instances, as determined by the FIA.

“We suggest that the overspend should be penalised by way of a reduction to the team’s cost cap in the year following the ruling, and the penalty should be equal to the overspend plus a further fine - ie an overspend of $2m in 2021, which is identified in 2022, would result in a $4m deduction in 2023 ($2m to offset the overspend plus $2m fine).

“For context, $2m is (a) 25-50% upgrade to (an) annual car-development budget and hence would have a significant positive and long-lasting benefit. In addition, we believe there should be minor overspend sporting penalties of a 20% reduction in CFD and wind tunnel time. These should be enforced in the following year, to mitigate against the unfair advantage the team has and will continue to benefit from.”

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton was denied a record eighth F1 crown when he was beaten by Verstappen at a deeply contentious winner-takes-all finale in Abu Dhabi on 12 December. Verstappen took the title by eight points.

Red Bull added in their statement last week: “We need to carefully review the FIA’s findings as our belief remains that the relevant costs are under the 2021 cost cap amount.

“Despite the conjecture and positioning of others, there is of course a process under the regulations with the FIA which we will respectfully follow while we consider all the options available to us.”

Red Bull’s breach is sure to be the hot topic of conversation as F1 returns to the United States for the US Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas this weekend.