Red Bull rumored to be under scrutiny of the FIA for gross violations of cost cap in 2021
Follow Us
Aston Martin AMR22 and Red Bull RB18
Setting a cost cap for the participating teams in Formula 1 is one of the relatively newer regulations that the FIA have implemented. The limited budget is supposed to shorten the performance gap between the bigger teams which spend an exorbitant amount of money to develop their cars and the smaller teams which do not have such surplus of resources at their disposal. And it was also specified by the FIA that any team found to violate the cost cap would be penalised accordingly–but even then, the 2021 budget audit did find some discrepancies in the expenditures of two F1 teams.
The FIA have completed their audit for the budgets of the teams in the 2021 F1 Championship season, and they are all-set to announce the results in the upcoming week. But if the rumor mill turns out to be true, then word has been going around the paddocks that the FIA have fished out two teams that went over the budget limit last year, one of them having significantly violated the cost cap.
As soon as the rumors about the cost cap violations went public, fans started speculating on which of the F1 teams could be in trouble. And many of them believe it is the team behind last year’s F1 Drivers’ Champion–Red Bull. The British team had excelled at their job of producing a Championship-winning car for Max Verstappen, and it is possible they went above and beyond the cost cap to do so. The second team which might be held responsible is Aston Martin.
If Red Bull is indeed found to have gone over the cost cap, there will be consequences
Being obliged to uphold a transparent picture of the budget audits, the FIA has to publicly reveal the names of the teams that need to be penalised. And if Red Bull is indeed one of them, then the repercussions will have to be borne by them. But clear rules regarding the penalties to be made regarding a cost cap violation are not yet specified by the FIA.
But the second team of the two–possibly, Aston Martin–might be let off the hook without much trouble as it is given in the rules that a violation of the budget cap by $5 million or less will be considered as a “minor rule violation” and the perpetrator will be charged a fine. But the second team, which is rumored to have grossly surpassed the cost margin, will be held accountable by the FIA and it is not known how they will have to clear their name by abiding by the penalties that are levied upon them.
Read More: “I’m not going to be nice anymore,” Romain Grosjean heavily criticized by rivals in IndyCar
Also Read: “The test is going to happen,” Toto Wolff reaffirms Romain Grosjean’s hopes for Mercedes Test
Stay Updated!
Riddhi Mondal
(1821 Articles Published)