FIA hits Red Bull with $7M fine for 2021 cost cap breach

The FIA confirmed on Friday that Red Bull will pay a $7 million financial penalty for breaching F1's 2021 cost cap regulations, but the team has also been hit with a 10% reduction of its aerodynamic testing.

Earlier this month, the FIA revealed that its financial audit of Red Bull's accounts had identified a "minor overspend" by the team relative to its $145 million budget.

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner subsequently denied there had been any transgression by the team according to its own interpretation of F1's financial regulations.

Nevertheless, Horner and FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem met in Austin and engaged in talks to reach a settlement, with discussions reaching a satisfactory conclusion for both parties this week in Mexico.

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Red Bull adherence to the FIA's Accepted Breach Agreement means that the team has now acknowledged its fault and accepted to pay within 30 days a $7 million fine.

Furthermore, the team also accepts that it will lose 10% of its aerodynamic wind tunnel and CFD allocation.

The FIA findings into Red Bull's budget cap transgression identified a procedural breach that "inaccurately excluded and/or adjusted costs amounting to a total of £5,607,000."

That amount brought Red Bull's total Red Bull’s total spending in 2021 to £118,036,000, which exceeded its mandatory cap by £1,431,348 - or 1.6 per cent.

In the FIA's verdict, it said: "There is no accusation or evidence that Red Bull Racing has sought at any time to act in bad faith, dishonestly or in a fraudulent manner, nor has it wilfully concealed any information from the Cost Cap Administration."

In its talks with the FIA, Red Bull said that the additional £5.6m regrouped costs that covered 13 specific areas, including among others social security contributions for staff, apprenticeship levies, cost of use of the power units, and a clerical error in the calculation of costs re-charged to Red Bull by Red Bull Powertrains.

“Red Bull Racing has therefore accepted that it has breached: (i) Article 8.2(e) of the Financial Regulations due to its failure to file accurate Full Year Reporting Documentation in respect of the 2021 Full Year Reporting Period, and (ii) Article 8.10(b) of the Financial Regulations due to its failure to keep its Relevant Costs under the 2021 Cost Cap,” read the FIA statement.

“The FIA acknowledges that had RBR applied the correct treatment within its Full Year Reporting Documentation of RBR’s Notional Tax Credit within its 2021 submission of a value of £1,431,348, it would have been considered by the Cost Cap Administration to be in compliance with Article 4.1(b) of the Regulations and therefore RBR’s Relevant Costs for the 2021 Reporting Period would have in fact exceeded the 2021 Cost Cap by £432,652 (0.37%).”

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