The FIA has announced the penalty for Red Bull Racing’s breach of the 2021 budget cap. The team will have to pay a fine of $7 million, and their aerodynamic testing for next year has been reduced by 10%. Red Bull Racing was found guilty of exceeding the $145 million budget cap, set by the FIA for the 2021 season.
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff believes that the penalty is too little for the breach. “I think as for any penalty, for us, it’s too little. For them, it will be too much,” he said in an interview with Autosport. He added that while the fine and the sporting penalty act as deterrents, the reputational damage that Red Bull Racing has suffered is the most impactful.
McLaren CEO Zak Brown shared a similar opinion, stating that the penalty should have been much stronger. “If the FIA is to be most effective and its punishments serve as a lesson to others when rules are broken in this way, the sanctions have to be much stronger in the future,” he told the BBC.
However, Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer thinks that the penalty is appropriate. “They are marginally over from what I can tell. Over is over. If we are 1g overweight, we are excluded from the race,” he said while speaking to Sky F1. “Yes, I think so,” he added when asked if the penalty fits the crime.
It remains to be seen whether the penalty will serve as a strong enough deterrent for other teams in the future, but the FIA has made it clear that any violation of the budget cap will not be taken lightly.
