Martin Brundle insists Red Bull deserve a harsh punishment for their ‘minor breach’ of F1’s £114m spending cap, claiming teams could exploit the system by ‘overspending a bit, paying a fine to go a tenth or two faster’
- Martin Brundle says Red Bull deserve a harsh punishment after budget breach
- Red Bull have been found in a ‘minor breach’ of the 2021 £114m spending cap
- FIA published auditing findings into Red Bull’s spending cap for the 2021 season
- Discrepancy was said to be no more than £1.8m, not the speculated £10m over
Martin Brundle believes Red Bull deserve a harsh punishment after breaching their 2021 budget cap.
After weeks of speculation, the news broken by Sportsmail, was confirmed by the FIA on Monday afternoon.
The communique from the sport’s governing body did not specify the amount by which the Milton Keynes-based team exceeded the £114million ceiling for last season. Sources have indicated that it was by no more than £1.8m, but it may be less.
It was confirmed by the FIA that Red Bull exceeded the £114million spending cap in 2021
It has been indicated that Red Bull was over the cap by no more than £1.8m, but it may be less
It was deemed a ‘minor’ breach – rather than a ‘material’ one – on the basis it was less than five per cent of the limit, or £5.7m.
Brundle insists Red Bull should not get off lightly following their rules breach, calling for a ‘hard’ penalty to be sanctioned.
Brundle told Sky Sports: ‘Not really no. As long as it [the budget cap] is controlled and as long as the penalties are crystal clear, and hard enough.
Martin Brundle (pictured) believes Red Bull deserve a harsh punishment after minor breach
‘I think it’s fundamentally a good system and it is early stages, we have to remember that.
‘It’s just the detail now and it’s got to be made clear that you stick to the cost cap or just under it otherwise, it’s going to hurt.
‘What seems crazy to me is that a minor breach can be up to 5% overspend on the cost cap. That’s around $7million. We know that’s a massive upgrade on a car, maybe even a B-spec for some teams.
‘It needs tightening up because the other teams will be under pressure. The team boss will be saying, ‘why didn’t you do this? Why don’t you overspend a bit and pay a fine or get a slap on the wrist and go a tenth or two faster?”
Brundle went on to add that he believes it should be the team principals who should be held responsible for keeping their team spending in line.
‘I think that the corporate governance of somebody like Mercedes for example, is such that they just can’t be seen to be breaching something like this. I think that needs to be the same for all the teams.
‘I understand it to be the case that somebody like Toto [Wolff, Mercedes team principal] has to sign a document to comply with the rules.
‘Christian Horner at Red Bull and all the key personnel, all the financial personnel, should be personally locked into this.
‘I think that’s a critical area so that they’re personally responsible and accountable, as well as their company in being transparent and honest and accurate with these numbers.’
The fact the exact figures were not made public by the FIA will further fuel feelings that the process – which has dragged on 302 days since Max Verstappen controversially beat Lewis Hamilton to the 2021 title – is not as transparent as it should be.
Verstappen passed Hamilton on the final lap of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in the season finale to claim an extraordinary maiden world championship
No other team was named as having over-spent, though Aston Martin and Williams were found to have made a ‘procedural’ mistake – a failure to fill out or submit forms as required.
As Sportsmail revealed last week, the relatively ‘minor’ level of Red Bull’s breach means their star man Verstappen will not be stripped of last year’s title in favour of Hamilton.
Had they overspent close to £10m, as Mercedes suggested last week in private briefings to journalists, that rewriting of the record books could have been the extraordinary consequence.
Red Bull have previously maintained that when they submitted their accounts in March they were under budget – by a margin of more than £3million. They further believe they are over-budget owing to disputed catering costs and health care provision for sick staff.
Responding to Monday’s verdict, Red Bull said in a statement: ‘We note the findings by the FIA of ‘minor overspend breaches of the financial regulations’ with surprise and disappointment.
‘Our 2021 submission was below the cost cap limit, so we need to carefully review the FIA’s findings as our belief remains that the relevant costs are under the 2021 cost cap amount.
‘Despite the conjecture and position of others, there is of course a process under the regulations with the FIA which we will respectfully follow while we consider all the options available to us.’
