Red Bull was hit with a cost cap penalty of $7,000,000 for exceeding the 2021 budget cap by approximately $2,200,000. Along with the financial penalty, Red Bull also suffered a 10% reduction in wind tunnel time. While the Milton Keynes outfit have navigated the 2023 season without much trouble, as they have sealed the championship, team principal Christian Horner yet believes that the “full impact” of the cost cap penalty has not been seen.
Since Red Bull knew that they were hit by this penalty, Horner revealed how his team have strategically catered most of their resources and time to developing the RB20. Hence, although Red Bull are already ahead of their rivals in developing their next year’s car, Horner yet believes that the penalty will also hit them in 2024.
“Certainly, you’ve not seen the full impact yet because it obviously has compromised the amount of development that we’ve been able to do this year. Thankfully, we came out with a very strong car at the beginning of the year and we’ve been able to apply most of that development time, from quite early in the season, to next year’s car,” explained Horner (as quoted by racefans.net).
After stating the same, Horner explained how complicated the cost cap rules are to understand. The Briton said that all the teams are working with the FIA to streamline the process of enforcing the cost cap.
Christian Horner is happy with the way the FIA has scrutinized the team’s budgets
In the same interview, Christian Horner explained how happy he is with the way the FIA has scrutinized the budgets of all the teams this season. The Briton stated that the governing body carried out a thorough investigation of all the team’s finances to ensure that no side was getting an unfair advantage. However, the 49-year-old did admit how complicated the concept of the cost cap is, and how it is a learning curve for everyone involved.
“The FIA are learning as well from their side, and the rules have evolved. Of course, every company is structured in a slightly different way as well which adds to the complexity, whether you’ve got subsidiary accounts or what your reporting group is, for example, so that has a bearing as well,” explained the Red Bull team principal.
Red Bull were the only team that were deemed guilty in 2021 of breaching the cost cap. Meanwhile, Aston Martin and Williams were penalized for certain “procedural breaches“. Even though the current procedure of evaluating potential cost cap breaches is already complicated, the FIA is all set to add another cap.
FIA will introduce a new cap in 2026
Since the next significant regulation changes will come in 2026, the FIA believe it is the perfect time to introduce a cap on power unit development costs. As F1 remains committed to becoming more and more sustainable, the FIA has planned to introduce such a cap to prevent excessive spending from teams.
Since F1 teams will now have to take care of so many different criteria coming into the 2026 season, Alpine’s interim team principal Bruno Famin has explained how their task has now become more complex. “In Viry, we are working on different projects: we’re working in Formula 1, in Formula E, in the Le Mans programme, and trying to assign the right expense to the right project is sometimes very difficult,” Famin explained (as quoted by racefans.net).
However, he did praise the FIA for helping the teams navigate through this process. Similarly to Horner, Famin also believes it is important for the teams and the governing body to stay in constant touch to streamline the process of evaluating the cost caps.
