Why Red Bull’s rivals expect their budget cap penalty to have a “very small” effect · RaceFans

The FIA has ruled Red Bull failed to comply with its new budget cap regulations in 2021 and announced its penalty for the team.

Red Bull spent £1.864 million more than it was permitted to, exceeding the £118m ($145m) cap by 1.6%. Ferrari sporting director Laurent Mekies described it as a “significant” overspend.

The FIA and Red Bull settled the matter through an Accepted Breach Agreement. As Red Bull were found to have committed breaches of the rules that were “Minor” (an overspend of less than 5%) and “Procedural”, the FIA had several available punishments to choose from.

Their options were a fine, a public reprimand, deduction of either or both constructors and drivers championship points for the 2021 season, suspension from stages of a competition (except a race), limitations in aerodynamic or other testing or a reduction of the cost cap.

Had Red Bull committed a more serious breach the FIA could have imposed a “Material Sporting Penalty”. In this case a restriction of development would not have been available as an option, but exclusion from the championship would.

The FIA chose to impose a fine of $7m (£6m) and cut Red Bull’s aerodynamic development time by 10% next year. However, their rivals expressed concerns that the impact of those penalties will be softened and the punishment inadequate compared to the advantage they have gained.

The fine handed down to Red Bull is one of the largest issued in the history of the sport, and well above the margin by which they broke the budget cap. The $7m (£6.059m) sanction is slightly more than the total value of the items Red Bull incorrectly excluded or adjusted in its cost cap submission, which was £5.607m.

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Red Bull must pay the fine within 30 days of the FIA’s decision. Significantly, the fine itself does not come out of their budget cap for this year, as all financial penalties under the budget cap are listed as items that can be excluded. So Red Bull is not facing a sudden reduction in the lowered $140m cap it must adhere to in 2022.

The second part of Red Bull’s penalty is defined as: “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.” Each team…