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$2 Million upgrade by Red Bull that Ferrari alleges abuses budget cap

Tanish Chachra
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$2 Million upgrade by Red Bull that Ferrari alleges abuses budget cap

Red Bull is planning to bring in a lighter chassis that can further improve their pace by 1.5 tenths/lap but could abuse the budget cap.

Red Bull mightily dominates the 2022 season. However, they are not ready to take it easy, and according to Corriere della Sera, they are bringing in a lighter chassis.

The upgrade by Red Bull will improve their pace by 1.5/tenths per lap. However, there is a catch. The cost of the chassis alone would cost them $2 million.

And Ferrari alleges that it will abuse the budget cap. Thus, it’s illegal. Even Ferrari was planning to bring in similar chassis, but it wasn’t affordable to them under budget constraints.

“As Ferrari, we could never introduce a lighter chassis due to the budget cap,” said Binotto. So, if Ferrari is right and Red Bull still brings in the upgrade, it will surely trigger yet another conflict for FIA to solve.

Thus, spicing up the championship battle. Even without the upgrade, Red Bull looks far ahead due to better reliability and consistency. So, for once, Red Bull can avoid this risk for fear of overdoing things.

Also read: Fernando Alonso claims his fan since childhood can win F1 Championship with $1.4 Billion team

Ferrari hopes for better performance in Zandvoort and Monza

The Belgian Grand Prix was a disaster for Ferrari. The Maranello-based team saw the Red Bull duo of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez taking P1-2, respectively.

They had to console themselves with a consolation prize of P3 by Carlos Sainz. Meanwhile, Charles Leclerc finished P6, courtesy of an initial race hiccup, and then a five-second penalty was imposed on him for speeding in the pitlane.

However, Ferrari boss Binotto hopes for better performance at Zandvoort and Monza. Though, he also argues that at Monza, Ferrari will have to see where they can extract their potential.

“Zandvoort is a totally different track, with higher load. I am confident that we will return to fight for the win,” said Binotto. “Monza is a lower load track, but it has a different configuration to Spa. We will work to understand how to best use the car and the tyres.”

Also read: Eccentric $1.4 Trillion company reaches out to Daniel Ricciardo with job prospect

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra

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Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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