Red Bull Racing F1 team boss Christian Horner spoke on Friday in Mexico City about the penalty being imposed on the team for violating financial rules for the 2021 F1 season.
Red Bull Racing was less than 5%, specifically 1.6%, compared to the 2021 cost limit. The FIA (Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile) admitted that the teams did not properly report their alleged tax credits. This means that the team has exceeded the 0.37% cost limit.
Red Bull Racing will have to pay the FIA $ 7 million within 30 days, reducing the restricted wind tunnel testing and limited limits of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) by a further 10%.
Christian Horner gave a press conference and told how the story unfolded to face the team’s penalty.
How Red Bull has exceeded its cost limit
Christian Horner explained that the team submitted its financial report in April 2021.
“There has been no feedback from there, so on that basis, we adopted the same methodology in our March 2022 presentation for the 2021 season, applying the policies we felt we had adopted because nothing was said.”
“From April to June the FIA came and went through our accounts and books. There were more than 75,000 entries in this presentation, you can imagine how big it is, but I’m going to put it in. There is a need.”
“Basically, as I say this year, in April and June nothing was known. It was the end. I was asked for some clarifications and I promptly answered the 13 points that had been placed on me. I heard it again when I answered all the questions put to me by the FIA in this first year of cap “.
“We have 52 pages of financial regulations and whoever reads them … I think there are elements open to interpretation. If we made a mistake, the FIA assumed it would be something like an audit process, but the treatment we have received by the auditors was very different. It was a lesson for all concerned. “
Christian Horner said in a statement that the FIA said: “RBR[Red Bull Racing]has no allegations or evidence of attempting to act maliciously, dishonestly or fraudulently and has received information from the Costcap administration. I didn’t hide it on purpose, “she said.
“So we’re not hiding anything. We’ve made preliminary observations and completed the process. Maybe we expected more, maybe we should have asked more questions. That’s all. It’s part of this process.”
And Christian Horner said there was no advantage Red Bull Racing gained by breaking the cost ceiling.
“Not a dime was spent on the performance of the car, not a dime was spent on the performance of the car and no other team was in this position, good for them. But I was surprised to see eight completely. compliant. Did you see the performance on the track? No, I didn’t. “
How taxes, catering, sick pay and layoffs have caused chaos
“Our overspending is related to several areas. One was obviously the taxes I mentioned. The second was the rule change in June after submitting the application. Resubmission was allowed. If it had been done, we would have benefited £ 1.2 million worth of unused parts and how we calculated and treated those unused parts and believe other teams would have taken it in their claims
“This year we had too many catering costs and we gave our staff too much food. We thought catering costs were excluded. We were £ 3.7m below our demand and below the threshold. within Red Bull it has always been an advantage offered by the group … it has always been offered free food and drinks So … we saw it as an excludable cost, which we found aggressive but acceptable. The FIA looked differently and said food could not be ruled out. “
“There was also disagreement about sickness benefits. We have always wanted to support sickness and the health of our staff.[休暇]I have been supportive during the hiring and will continue to do so in the future. We felt bad (benefits), whose role had played no role on the Grand Prix team for eight months. It was an excludable cost. Unfortunately the regulation can be interpreted in two ways. If a person died, luckily he didn’t, but the cost would have been excluded. Fortunately they are not dead. Therefore, the costs for that period have been included ”.
“Another point where we had different opinions was retirement, layoffs and staff movement between companies, which sometimes happens between Grand Prix teams with different entities. Let’s say you have senior staff on fixed-term, time-limited contracts. determined and you “After submitting a Hollywood-style offer from another team, they switched from their F1 activities to our high-tech department …”
“People then left the company from there, but the time spent outside the F1 company was included in the limit. Again, what we felt was an excludable cost.”
Penalty on Red Bull
“It’s a hard blow, a handicap and I’ll have to work hard,” said Christian Horner.
“It gives the competitors an advantage and that’s why they were pushing so hard for the draconian penalty. We have to work hard in the time available and we have to use our time efficiently.”
“I have full confidence in our team, in the abilities of the team. I think they have shown that many times. There are other sporting sanctions available to the FIA, but this is clearly a competitor. He was strongly urged by the United States, and they felt that this it would have hit us harder. “
“But I’m sure it won’t be enough for our rivals. If we burn our wind tunnel, I’m sure it won’t be enough. But this is an FIA penalty. After so much dialogue, they know the impact it will have on us … this it will have a significant impact on our car’s performance next year. “
“Like I said, it’s hard to give a lap time number, but you can guess … it could be between 0.25 and 0.5 seconds. But ATR (aero test limits) I’ve never seen a bunch of individuals so motivated to do a great job last year or this year, probably the biggest regulatory change in the last 40 years. But I think I’ve given every member of Keynes staff 25% motivation. “
Why Red Bull did not appeal and the impact of the punishment on F1
“We recognize that this set of regulations is immature. We recognize that there are interpretations. We recognize that this FIA manager has inherited these regulations. We have to work a lot,” said Christian Horner.
“An effective appeal through the administrative process could have taken months and the International Court of Appeal could have taken months longer. We could have considered a six month period.”
“The amount of speculation, commentary and snipers going on in the paddock, we felt it was in everyone’s interest – our interest, the FIA interest, the F1 interest – can be said to have closed the book. the book here. Closing, today I accept the penalties reluctantly, but I accept “.
“I think what we have set is a precedent. We have set a precedent for 2022. The danger for 2022 is that there could be six teams violating the cap. Energy prices have been exponential. But luckily we are protected. But as you know many teams could break the limit this year, as they stated during the F1 Commission meeting. We are looking forward to 2022. I don’t think we will ever break the limit … but these penalties set a precedent for the future: if you get 10% for a 0.37% infringement, what does a 5% infringement look like? “
“Overall, we believe that the cost limit is an important part of Formula 1 and an important part of the future, but it must be consistent, applicable and developed in such a way that we have chosen it, we accept it, we put it on our chins, but as I said, now is the time to roll it out and move on. ”
Category: F1 / Red Bull / F1 Mexican Grand Prix
