F1 chaos over alleged Red Bull and Wolf breaches

toto wolfboss mercedessomething already smelled in the middle of the battle 2021 World Cup with Red BullHe warned in June of that year that “if Red Bull continues to develop the car, it will be two seconds slower in 2022”. He, Milton Keynes They kept improving the car all the time, but due to changes in the regulations they had to start spending time and money creating a new car for 2022 that was completely different. got the car of strange? Now, during the F1 Singapore GP, instead of just thinking about the first option, Verstappen to be champion again Marina Bay Circuitthe Austrian team made headlines It could violate the 2021 budget cap.

last year, Budget limit per FIA regulations was $145 million maximum cost per teamreduced to 140 million by 2022 (+3% due to the current crisis and inflation). With this $145 million, the team had a double challenge in 2021.: developing a car for that campaign and creating a new single-seater for 2022. And this Friday, “La Gazzetta dello Sport” and “Auto Motor und Sport” has revealed that two teams have breached that cap in 2021. Although it has not been officially announced, Red Bull has confirmed that it is investigating, but has clarified that it is not concerned.

Regulation without clear penalties

Mess is served and you don’t have to be a lynx to know Mercedes puts all the meat on the grill so that Red Bull gets exemplary punishment. What penalties will Red Bull face for violating this new regulation? These F1 laws were created with many loopholes. The main one is that the sanctions are not clear and there are no clear and specific penalties for exceeding their limits.

Sanctions can range from fines for “minor infractions” (not exceeding the 5 million limit) to larger penalties such as deducting points from the Constructors’ Championship in the season in which a team breaks the rules. I have. Deducting points from the Drivers’ Championship, increasing aerodynamic testing limits, or significantly reducing costs for future campaigns. If an offender exceeds the budget cap by more than 5% of his budget, a cost cap adjudication board of independent judges can impose any of the above sanctions or even exclude the team. But what will happen to Red Bull? There are so many possible punishments and so different from each other that it’s all unknown.

The problem is that if Red Bull is shown to have overshot its budget cap, it could further hurt Verstappen’s 2021 title. It could have been the key to creating a winning car for 2020 and a winning foundation that will allow us to face the 2023 campaign as a favorite. And if the sanctions are not exemplary, other teams may impose these restrictions on bullfighters.

toto wolf so angry

Christian Horner denies Red Bull overstepped its limits. And Wolff was quick to respond to his greatest enemy in the paddock: “Christian said he might not speak to the CFO because they’ve been under investigation for weeks and months. It’s funny. In fact, all of us were investigated.”

“As far as we understand, there is a team with a more procedural minor offense (Aston Martin) and another that is fundamentally and massively outbounds and is still being analyzed. secret,” Wolff told Sky.

“The important part is that if we were (above) in 2021, we were in 2022 and we have an advantage in 2023,” Wolff said. It should be noted that team bosses such as Mattia Binotto (Ferrari) said a few months ago that Red Bull did not understand how car racing could evolve race after race without exceeding cost limits. And the final straw is rumors that Red Bull has approved an already lightened chassis to make it even faster. “If it’s true that they approved a lighter chassis this year, they might use it next year. So it’s a cascade of events that could affect all three championships.” Mr Wolff said.

Mercedes and Ferrari say that another $5 million can improve their cars by up to half a second, so their anger is immense.

“The FIA ​​is finalizing the evaluation of the 2021 financial data submitted by all Formula 1 teams. Suspected violations of the financial rules will be dealt with according to the formal process established by the rules.” he said in a statement. FIA statement.

The outcome will be known next week when the FIA ​​informs its decision to review the 2021 team’s accounts…but nothing is clear.There are many loopholes in the regulations.

“We are not worried”

Meanwhile, at Red Bull, they act as if they are not with themselves.”Many FIA accountants are on our account and discussions are going on as to who works where. RB Advanced Technologies, There are different companies like RB Technology, RB Powertrains, etc., but we have to make a clear distinction between these, showing anger at the leak of the fact that only the FIA ​​knew: “The FIA ​​said they didn’t know anything.” But it’s strange that the point of the ongoing process hasn’t been made public yet,” a recent revelation revealed. It’s harmful to reputation. ”

Red Bull team principal Chris Horner also noted what happened. Currently doing. ”

“Each team will review each team’s submitted accounts as they are theoretically subject to the limits. It’s changed in October, but it’s a lot of work, there’s a lot for them to go through,” he said. Then they made laws and created traps. It is very difficult to be able to fully account for the costs of an entire F1 team, especially when there are different companies that specialize in different issues. New and reminded me that every team’s review process needs to mature over the years.

Horner claimed the team was “very confident” in filing its 2021 expense statement, concluding, “We will wait for news from the FIA.”