F1 chief undermined as old comments resurface amid Red Bull breach

Max Verstappen commits future to Red Bull signing £200m deal

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Max Verstappen will be allowed to keep his 2021 F1 title, despite the fact Red Bull breached the budget cap. The FIA found the energy drink giants to have been guilty of a ‘minor overspend’ after a audit and will likely slap them with a fine. And that punishment undermines F1 managing director of motorsports Ross Brawn.

The F1 budget cap was introduced in 2021 as teams were told they could only spend up to £114million that year. But as the cap was announced in 2019, Brawn sent out a stark warning to teams who fell foul of it and said they would be risking their title.

“Financial regulations are the dramatic change in F1,” Brawn said during the official launch of F1’s new financial model at an FIA press conference in Austin, Texas. “We’ve tried for these in the past, and we’ve not been successful. I think the crucial thing about the financial regulations now is that they are part of the FIA regulations.

“So the sanctions for breaching financial regulations will be sporting penalties of some sort, depending on the severity of the breach. Whereas before we had the resource restriction, which was a gentlemen’s agreement between teams. Well there’s not many gentlemen in the paddock I’m afraid, and that was a failure.

“But this has teeth. If you fraudulently breach the financial regulations, you will be losing your championship. So it has serious consequences if teams breach these regulations. We’ve got a very strong team of financial experts within the FIA and within F1, and we’ve sought outside support on this.”

Verstappen is allowed to keep his title as Red Bull’s breach was less than 5 per cent of the budget. for 2021. And the FIA confirmed in a statement on Monday that they were still deciding on an appropriate sanction for the violation, with Aston Martin also guilty of a ‘procedural’ mistake as they filled out a form incorrectly.

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“The FIA confirms that its Cost Cap Administration has now completed the review of the Reporting Documentation submitted by each Competitor that participated in the 2021 FIA Formula One World Championship in respect of the 2021 Reporting Period ending on 31 December 2021,” the organisation wrote in a statement. “The FIA Cost Cap Administration notes that all Competitors acted at all times in a spirit of good faith and cooperation throughout the process.

“The FIA Cost Cap Administration is currently determining the appropriate course of action to be taken under the Financial Regulations with respect to Aston Martin and Red Bull and further information will be communicated in compliance with the Regulations.”

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