F1 team boss hits out at FIA over Red Bull budget cap penalty

Horner opens up on Red Bull's 'barren spell' amid Mercedes dominance

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Haas boss Guenther Steiner has claimed Red Bull’s budget cap sanctions are “not a real punishment”. Red Bull were hit with a £6.3million ($7m) fine for exceeding the allowance in 2021.

The reigning champions were also slapped with a 10 per cent reduction in wind tunnel and CFD development testing for next season. Christian Horner described it as a ”draconian” measure which could impact Max Vertsappen’s title defence by half a second per lap next season.

However, Steiner has suggested Red Bull could still find ways around the lack of wind tunnel testing in time for the new season. Speaking to GPFans, Steiner explained: “The technical punishment, I don’t think it’s a real punishment because you take away the wind tunnel [time], but you don’t take away the money, so you can develop something else.

“Obviously, the wind tunnel is the best way to make the car go quicker aerodynamically, but there are other areas as well where you can make the car go quicker.

“The money which was overspent, you haven’t taken that out of the budget cap coming the next year… It’s not a real punishment because the money is still there and now you can develop something different.” Red Bull were hit with the penalty after they went over the cap by £1.8m ($2.2m).

The FIA later accepted the actual breach would be £432,000 ($0.5m) if the team’s tax receipts were submitted correctly. Steiner was among team bosses who called for the FIA to deduct some money from Red Bull’s future allowance.

He previously told RTL: “Seven million dollars is a lot of money but it doesn’t hurt them.

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“Now if they [the FIA] had said they could spend five million dollars less than the rest of the teams next year, a sanction would have really damaged the development of the car.” McLaren boss Zak Brown also called on the FIA to take tougher action to stop teams from purposefully breaking the rules.

He hinted teams should see a reduction in the team’s cost cap for the following season if they are caught out. Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto has also pushed the governing body needed to issue tougher sanctions.

He commented: “That is why strict action had to be taken, but the penalty for Red Bull is negligible and does not compensate for the advantage obtained. The wind tunnel time that Red Bull has to surrender does not cost two- to five-tenths per lap.”

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