Red Bull, this year’s Formula 1 champion, has been fined $7 million for violating the budget cap last season and will cut wind tunnel time by 10% next year, looking at The International Automobile Federation (FIA) on Friday (28).
The FIA added in a statement ahead of this weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix that the decision, which Red Bull accepted, is final and not subject to appeal.
The result means that the Red Bull titles are safe. The team won the 2021 and 2022 Drivers’ Championship with Max Verstappen, as well as this year’s constructors’ championship, its first since 2013.
The FIA said the team exceeded the cap by 1,864 million pounds ($2.15 million), but the sum would have been 432,652 pounds had they correctly applied a national tax credit in the UK, where the team is based.
Formula 1 introduced the cap last year to curb rampant spending and equal opportunity, cutting the total from $145 million to $140 million this year. The value is expected to reach $135 million next season.
The FIA announced on October 10 that Red Bull had a “slight increase in spending” and had also committed a “procedural breach”.
Aston Martin, owned by Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll, also accepted that it had committed a procedural irregularity and was fined $450,000.
“There is no charge or evidence that RBR sought to act in bad faith, deceit or fraud, nor did it knowingly withhold any information from the Cost Maximum Department,” the FIA added.
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