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“An employee of Mercedes moved to FIA”: Red Bull chief accuses Toto Wolff’s team for leaking their cost cap data

Somin Bhattacharjee
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“An employee of Mercedes moved to FIA”: Red Bull chief accuses Toto Wolff’s team for leaking their cost cap data

Red Bull has been under fire over the last few weeks after the FIA found them guilty of breaching the cost cap. The latter’s introduction itself was not a popular decision among the top teams, but they have been at Red Bull’s throats for overspending.

After an investigation, the FIA decided to penalize the Milton-Keynes-based outfit by fining them a sum of $7 million. On top of that, they have also been given a 10% reduction in wind tunnel time for future developments. Most of the F1 community feels that this punishment is too light but Red Bull insists that it is going to cost them close to half a second.

However, Red Bull are also concerned as to how the FIA got to know about their cost breach. As far as their chief advisor Helmut Marko is concerned, Mercedes leaked documents to the governing body of the sport.

Also read: Max Verstappen weak technically, Sebastian Vettel more complete driver opines ex Red Bull head

Ex- Mercedes employee was responsible for handling Red Bull budget cap documents, says Helmut Marko

This is not the first time Marko has raised concerns about Mercedes’ close connection to the FIA. HE previously stated how the Silver Arrows’ team principal Toto Wolff is close to Shaila-Ann Rao.

In an interview with RTL, the Austrian mentioned the fact that Rao was in charge of handling the budget-cap investigation at the FIA.

“An employee of Mercedes moved to the FIA,” the 79-year-old said. “Worked on these documents for the cost cap at Mercedes and was responsible for checking them at the FIA. There is certainly a compliance violation. The whole thing does not make a good impression.”

Also read: “I wanted everything”: Valtteri Bottas admits he was too hard on himself when he had all resources in hand

Marko insists budget-cap penalty was due to pressure from other F1 teams

The budget cap in F1 was introduced only last year. While it wasn’t a popular decision among the richer teams, they were forced to comply with it. When they got to know that Red Bull had breached it, they took every opportunity in hand to make sure the Austrian team were punished.

This is what led to them getting penalized according to Marko. The Red Bull boss feels that without the pressure from teams like Ferrari, Mercedes and McLaren, the FIA would not have acted so harshly.

Marko also added that plenty of teams will breach the budget cap in the future. However, the penalty will not be as harsh as teams will be more used to it.

 

About the author

Somin Bhattacharjee

Somin Bhattacharjee

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Formula 1 Editor Somin Bhattacharjee fell for the sport as well as Fernando Alonso on the same day — during the Spaniard’s thrilling victory at the German GP in 2010. Over the years, the passion magnified manyfold, and metamorphosed into a writing career in 2021. Though holding a bachelor's degree in marketing, Somin discovered his true calling in writing. He has penned over 2,700 articles for TheSportsRush, presenting a diverse range — news reports, opinions, and exclusives. A true Tiffosi, Somin never gives up on a chance to defend the Ferrari boys as a fan. As a sports writer though, he remains objective to the core and relishes opportunities to follow and engage in dissecting the action during races. That’s where the real thrill lies for him. Beyond the racetrack, Somin plays different sports including soccer. He enjoys exploring other sporting events and proudly supports Spanish soccer club Real Madrid.

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