Red Bull came as close as possible this season to completing an extraordinary clean sweep in F1, with the bulls missing out on a historic 100 percent win record by just one victory.
Fortunately, that shortfall – inflicted on Red Bull by Ferrari and Carlos Sainz in Singapore – isn’t living rent free in Christian Horner’s head.
The Red Bull team boss says that winning 21 rounds out of 22 is “insanity”, while the team’s faux pas at Marina Bay will likely be regarded in the future as a mere footnote in the outfit’s history.
“It leaves you humbled that there is still something to strive for, and it’s a useful lesson that things can change quickly. Singapore was a standout weekend,” Horner explained after Sunday’s season finale in Abu Dhabi.
"I never dreamt about it [the clean sweep] and you guys [the media] have been asking me since about race three, ‘Do you think you can win all the races this year?’.
“To win 21 out of the 22 races is insanity. For Max to have led over 1000 laps, for him to have won 19 races, to have broken McLaren’s record from ’88, to have broken Seb’s [Vettel] record from 2013 – the win ratios, all the percentages that he’s hit…
“This car will go down in history certainly for a considerable period of time as the most successful car in Formula 1 history.”
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One would be hard pressed to find anything negative to say about Red Bull’s hegemonic campaign.
There is however an inconvenience associated with the team’s massive haul of 860 points in the championship: its eye-watering $7.4 million entry fee that it will need to pay the FIA for the privilege of competing in F1 in 2024!
Its tally surpasses the previous record score of 765 points registered by Mercedes in 2016.
Since 2013, the FIA has adopted a unique approach to determining entry fees for participating teams.
Instead of a fixed fee, teams are charged based on their performance in the previous season, a system that aims to promote fairness and financial sustainability within the sport.
Initially, the entry fee structure consisted of a base fee of $500,000, supplemented by an additional $5,000 per point scored, to which a $1,000 per point premium was added to the year’s Constructors’ champion.
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Factoring in inflation over the years, the base fee now sits at $657,837, plus $6575 per point scored for all teams apart from the Constructors’ champion which must pay $7893.
The final invoice sent to Red Bull by the FIA, and which must be paid by December 10, will therefore amount to a hefty $7,445,817!
"I mean, it’s a luxury problem to have because we’ve had to score the points to generate the invoice,” Horner told Motorsport.com. “Thankfully, it’s outside of the budget cap.
“But, yeah, it’s a big cheque to be writing to the FIA."
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