What initially emerged as rumours and speculations in Formula One Paddock, has now been officially confirmed as a fact. It turns out that the FIA investigations legitimately approve the allegations that Red Bull racing had infringed the cost cap in the season 2021, which was imposed on the teams by FIA and formula one. As one would recollect that the previous season was the first occasion when F1 had implemented an official budget cap. The objective and purpose for introducing such a specific amendment being reducing the existing inequality amongst teams and promotion more competitiveness, alongside curbing and preventing teams from overspending, so that teams could eventually become sustainable in the long term.
Some pertinent questions are being asked of Formula 1 by the fans, and pundits alike, is what would be the exact consequences and ramifications for Red Bull as the inquiry has established, they had violated the regulations. What would be Red Bull’s reaction and how to approach to appeal the outcome of the investigation, if they decide to do so? Most prominently of the likelihood of Verstappen retrospectively being stripped of his championship last season. Let’s dive in from the beginning.
The 2021 championship was the inaugural season when formally the concept of financial capping was introduced in Formula One. All teams would be operating within a designated budget that was approved by FIA. There were teething issues that were anticipated by the F1 fraternity, including teams breaching the regulations or manoeuvring methods to exploit loopholes in the directive, by ingeniously accounting for overspending. As confirmed, Red Bull is accompanied by Aston Martin who has also formally been charged with overspending the budget cap. The limelight though would be Red Bull and so would be the scrutiny. As although they missed out on the Constructer’s championship by a whisker, they successfully secured the world driver championship perhaps under the most dramatic and entertaining circumstances. Securing Verstappen, the first of his two world championships.
Formula 1 fans are intrigued to comprehend, what could be the anticipated consequence that Red Bull Racing would face for committing the breach. This is where it gets fascinating and complicated. There were no premeditated penalties or ramifications for any of the breaches in the newly introduced legislation. As there was a consensus amongst both FIA and Formula 1 that a preconceived penalty or punishment might still provoke teams to intentionally disregard the legislation if the benefit of such a breach dwarfs the relatively inconsequential penalty. To put it candidly it would have enticed the team to assess the risk and rewards of overspending above the cap. F1 is a sport of extremely fine margins, and it has been routinely observed the established bunch of teams, would purposefully violate a rule, strategically as the advantage of breaking the law outweighs the consequences or the hindrances. For instance, Red Bull and Ferrari exceeded their quota of engine, or engine power units that are formally permissible to install in the car. The ramification of such a violation has been a 10-15 place grid penalty, which truth be said is far less inconsequential for a car with Red Bull’s pace.
Contemplating this, FIA and F1 had not formally announced the intensity and the severity of the penalty, which in Red Bull’s case will now be officially proclaimed. Red Bull's response to the verdict of the investigation was.
“We note the findings of the FIA report with surprise and disappointment. Our submission was well below the cost cap limit, so we need to carefully review the FIA’s finding.”
Red Bull has also attempted to reconcile with authorities mentioning cooperating with the FIA. Amidst the controversy, the scale of the breach remains a mystery. The breach is described to be minor in the official statement submitted by the FIA. In accordance with the definition of the regulation, a minor breach could vacillate from few 100,000$ to up to 7 million dollars.
The potential ramifications that are currently being conferred range from Red Bull being disqualified from a specific session of a certain race or them receiving an inferior budget for the upcoming season. They could be provided a restricted opportunity for aerodynamics testing, reducing their testing hours which could hamper their preparations. There could also be retrospective action, resulting in a points deduction from the previous season. In the worst case, the Verstappen title could be declared null, although the likelihood of such a rigorous penalization appears slim.
On a personal note, if Red bull has overspent inadvertently and has attempted to conceal it or infringed purposefully anticipating just a slap on the wrist, it becomes imperative that the consequences in a such case be as serious as the nature and severity of the breach. As this is the first official breach of the budgeting cap and if FIA complicity tolerates and sanctions it, that sets an adverse precedent, encouraging other teams in the future to breach the regulation to enhance car performance. This is a precarious situation for the authorities, as it provides them an opportunity to consolidate their authority in terms of preventing teams from infringing regulations in the future. The degree of punishment should be equivalent to the degree of misconduct, or else such regulations would merely become toothless.
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