“You break the rules, whether it’s technical or financial,” a furious Zak Brown still claims to stand by his letter incriminating Red Bull for their cost cap violation
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Zak Brown
The Formula 1 2022 season might be over, but the numerous controversies that rose up during the length of this year’s Championship are far from forgotten. Towards the middle of the league, the FIA announced that they would be conducting a massive audit to find out the expenses that the various teams had performed during the 2021 season, and if any of the participants were found to breach the cost cap that had been previously set, there would be consequences to bear. And some months later, it was found that two teams were particularly guilty of such a break of the expenditure ceiling.
According to the official news from the FIA, Red Bull had gone grossly over the cost cap and Aston Martin were also in procedural breach because they had wrongly reported their expenses. This caused a huge uproar from the other teams who claimed that going over the ceiling had given an undue advantage to the teams which were found guilty, as Max Verstappen from Red Bull got his first World Championship in the same season in which his team got accused of crossing the cost cap.
In a letter to the FIA President Mohammed bin Sulayem, Zak Brown, the McLaren Boss, talked about the horribly illegal conduct of Red Bull that has come into notice after the FIA’s audit. He outright accused the Austrian team of ‘cheating’ as it was clear as daylight that they had performed a minor breach of the $145 million cost cap. Brown’s comment got coverage from various media as he was incriminating Red Bull because of their actions in 2021, and if his words were to be believed, Verstappen would even stand to lose his first World Championship title.
Zak Brown stills claims to stand by what he said about Red Bull in his letter to bin Sulayem
When Red Bull was found guilty of going over the expenditure ceiling in 2021, further investigation revealed that they had overspent in four specific areas, and their Team Principal Christian Horner claimed time and again that the team had in no way gained an advantage by their cost cap violation. Still, Zak Brown said, “I stand by my letter. I think when you break the rules, whether it’s technical or financial, I think you can [have] many different ways to characterise it.”
He also said, “I know it’s a strong word, but I don’t see any difference between breaking the financial cap versus having too low of a ride height, or whatever the case may be.”
Now, the 2022 season is over and Red Bull and Aston Martin have both paid for their rule-breaking with massive amounts of fine. Max Verstappen’s World Championship title had not been called into question by the FIA, and the Dutchman went ahead to win the coveted position again this year. In 2023, he will be targeting a title hat-trick and now, it remains to be seen if Red Bull managed to clear the 2022 audit and if they can still succeed in propelling Verstappen to the top position in the Standings with their racecar and tactics.
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Riddhi Mondal
(1821 Articles Published)