Sat, Oct 22, 2022 page7

• Questions mount over Red Bull’s spending last year

  • AP, AUSTIN, Texas
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  Max Verstappen has already been crowned champion in one of the most dominant seasons in Formula 1 history and his Red Bull team are streaking toward the constructors’ title as well, but the big question looming over this week’s US Grand Prix is what to do about Red Bull’s cost cap breach last year and whether the team and their drivers should be punished.

  While Verstappen struts as a two-time champion in a chase for a record-tying 13th win this season, rival teams and drivers say F1 must find a way to penalize Red Bull for breaking a critical rule that is supposed to reign in the big-spending teams and level the playing field from the front of the grid to the back.

  Although the series governing body has called the spending breach “minor,” it could still be several million dollars.

  

  A member of the Red Bull crew works on Sergio Perez’s car in the team’s garages at the Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas, on Thursday. The US Grand Prix is scheduled for tomorrow.

  Photo: EPA-EFE

  The FIA has not announced any sanctions or disclosed how much money Red Bull overspent.

  What the FIA decides to do would be considered a major test of first-year president Mohammed Ben Sulayem’s leadership.

  A spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for an update or whether the FIA will announce anything before the end of the season.

  Red Bull’s rivals want action.

  McLaren team boss Zak Brown called any spending violation cheating.

  Ferrari, the series’ biggest legacy team and Red Bull’s closest rival this year for the championship, have called for “maximum penalties” for overspending.

  Ferrari have also argued that any improper boost in car development affects not just one season, but several, as teams are in a constant arms race for the future.

  Potential penalties for minor overspending range from a reprimand to reduced budgets, or even deduction of driver and team championship points, but few think FIA would do something as harsh as stripping Verstappen of his title from last year or reopen this season’s championship.

  Alfa Romeo driver Valtteri Bottas, who was Lewis Hamilton’s teammate last season at Mercedes when Verstappen won the championship over Hamilton on the last lap of the final race, said that “harsh” measures are called for.

  “It has to be something that hurts,” Bottas told reporters. “If you spend more money than other teams are allowed to spend, obviously you are gaining an advantage. It should be harsh.”

  Verstappen seemed unconcerned on Thursday.

  “It’s something between the team and the FIA,” Verstappen said. “I think it’s because we have been doing well. They are trying to slow us down any way possible.”

  Red Bull so far have said little other than the team believed they had stayed within spending limits last year, and that it was “surprised and disappointed” with the FIA’s findings of violations.

  Formula One first announced a budget cap would be implemented in 2019. It started last season with a limit of US$145 million. It was scaled down to US$140 million for this year and drops to US$135 million for next year, excluding driver salaries and engine costs.

  By calling the violation “minor,” the FIA indicated that Red Bull’s overspending was under 5 percent of the total budget.
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