Red Bull has put up one of the most dominant displays in F1 for the last year and a half. The Milton Keynes outfit has managed to win all of the 11 races held so far this season and is aiming to win all of the rest this season, something that hasn’t ever been done before. However, team boss Christian Horner claims that the penalties that they received due to breaking the cost cap in 2021, might pose a problem in their ambition to stay undefeated throughout the season.
The FIA made a shocking revelation in 2022 when they announced that Red Bull had broken the cost cap in 2021. Subsequently, they were handed a fine of $7,000,000 along with a 10% reduction in wind tunnel testing time for the 2023 season.
F1 might as well not have a cost cap if breaches result in a slap on the wrist according to Lewis Hamilton 👇#F1 #USGP #LewisHamilton #Mercedes #Motorsport pic.twitter.com/lczBkoTeKL
— Motorsport.com (@Motorsport) October 21, 2022
The majority of the F1 paddock holds the belief that Red Bull was let off easily, with the punishment having no real effect as they continue on with their dominance. This includes the likes of Lewis Hamilton, who described the penalty as a slap on the wrist. His teammate George Russell also backed him up and said that the punishment did not really fit the crime. However, Horner believes otherwise.
No more upgrades for the current RB19
Horner spoke to the media about how Red Bull is coping with the wind tunnel restrictions. As per PlanetF1, He explained, “With the handicap that we have, we have to really swing our focus over to next year, because we have a significant deficit on wind tunnel time compared to our competitors. We have to be very selective about how we use it.”
Moving their focus to next year means that Red Bull won’t really work on their current car right now, giving the other teams a chance to develop their cars and catch up with the untouchable Max Verstappen. This might make it difficult for Red Bull to maintain their winning streak towards the end of the season.
TWELVE consecutive wins for Red Bull Racing! Record breaking 👏 👏 pic.twitter.com/0V9PPEI1CE
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) July 23, 2023
Horner also commented that the penalty is applicable till October of this year. Therefore, currently, Red Bull is massively down in the number of runs that they can do in the wind tunnel, compared to any other team. It also means that the start of the development of the 2024 car will also be hampered a bit due to the penalty.
The current Red Bull domination explained
Horner also explained why despite this handicap, Red Bull has managed to maintain their lead at the top. He revealed that the engineers back in Milton-Keynes are carefully selecting only the most critical parts that need testing and the team is going ahead with those.
He said, “We have to be very, very selective in the running that we’re doing. That’s where the engineering team back in Milton Keynes are doing an incredible job.”
Red Bull has managed to win 21 out of the last 22 races, the only other race being the Brazilian GP, which was won by Russell. Therefore, the fact that Red Bull is ‘suffering’ due to the wind tunnel restrictions is not really convincing.
