Häkkinen: Red Bull cost cap breach will 'benefit' F1 teams long term

Two-time F1 world champion Mika Häkkinen believes that Red Bull's cost cap breach and the negative publicity it has received will deter F1 teams from overspending in the future.

Red Bull was found guilty of exceeding its mandatory 2021 $145 million budget cap by $1.8 million. While qualified as 'minor' by the FIA, the breach led to a $7 million financial penalty imposed on the team and to a sporting sanction represented by a 10% reduction in aerodynamic development hours.

But the negative publicity generated by the saga and the public pounding received by Red Bull from its rivals has certainly eroded the Milton Keynes-based outfit's goodwill.

And the latter is perhaps the repercussion that will be most feared by fellow team bosses in the future event of an overspend.

• Read also: Villeneuve says Red Bull cost cap breach 'not cheating'

"The first thing to say is that I am glad this matter is now closed and the FIA’s penalty accepted by Red Bull," Häkkinen wrote in his post-race Unibet column.

"With technical and sporting regulations you generally have a clear decision, for example if the car is under the weight limit or a driver goes outside the track limits, but with the financial regulations there was always likely to be a grey area.

"I think that is why everyone accepted two levels to breaking the budget cap – a minor or major overspend. The FIA recognised that there could be various levels of overspend and reasons for doing so.”

"Red Bull’s penalty for the minor overspend is still significant. Far more than the financial or aerodynamic penalty, it has been an uncomfortable experience for the team.

"The good thing is that no team will want to risk repeating this next year, so although it has been a very difficult and controversial moment for Red Bull, I believe it will benefit F1 in the long term because every team boss will be determined not to have this kind of negative publicity in future."

Last weekend at the Mexican Grand Prix, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner expressed his concern over how news of his team's budget cap breach was leaked out and led to a whirlwind of negative speculation regarding the level of Red Bull's overspend.

Red Bull's rivals were not outdone, with several teams adding fuel to the fire while calling for exemplary sanctions against the team, a state of affairs that Horner found "hugely worrying".

"The accusations made in Singapore were extremely upsetting for every single member of staff, all our partners, everyone involved within Red Bull," said Horner.

"Obviously, any form of leakage is hugely worrying. It's something that we expect to be followed up.

"I think there are lessons that have been learned. Everybody can learn from this. We've taken our pounding in public, we've taken a very public pounding, through the accusations that have been made by other teams.

"Our drivers have been booed at circuits. And the reputational damage that has been made by allegations has been significant. The time has come for that to stop."

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