McLaren wants penalties for any future breaches of Formula 1’s cost cap to be “much stronger” than the punishment Red Bull has received for its 2021 breach.
Red Bull must pay a $7million fine and will have its aerodynamic testing allowance reduced by 10% for 12 months after being found to have overspent by £1.8million last season.
McLaren CEO Zak Brown had written to the FIA and F1 management earlier this month urging strong penalties for what he called “cheating” around the cost cap.
He reiterated that stance in light of Red Bull’s punishment being announced, and called for stronger future action.
In a statement given to The Race, Brown said: “We appreciate the cost cap investigation is a complex process which the FIA have conducted in a thorough and transparent manner.
“I’m pleased the truth is out there now and it is the result is as we expected – there was a breach of the cost cap by one team, with the other nine operating in line with the rules.
“It is therefore only right that punitive action is taken.
“If the FIA is to be most effective and its punishments serve as a lesson to others when rules are broken in this way, the sanctions have to be much stronger in the future.
“We hope that the lessons learned through this process will now mean all teams have a clear understanding of the rules in order to avoid any future breaches.
“While we are pleased to see them act, we would hope the FIA take stronger action in future against those that wilfully break the rules.”
In Brown’s letter to the FIA, he argued that a “20% reduction in CFD and windtunnel time” would be a fair punishment for breaches classified as “minor” in cost cap terminology – such as Red Bull’s.
Brown also argued for a further reduction in a guilty team’s individual cost cap for the following season, which should be “equal to the overspend plus a further fine – i.e. an overspend of $2m in 2021, which is identified in 2022, would result in a $4m deduction in 2023 ($2m to offset the overspend plus $2m fine)”.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has argued that the penalty will have a disproportionate effect, suggesting a laptime blow of up to half a second.
But as he considers Red Bull’s overspend to be negligible, he suggested future penalties – including any for 2022 – are likely to be more severe because breaches might be larger.
When asked by The Race if clarifications to the budget cap and the findings from the Red Bull case could mean more draconian penalties in the future now that the regulations are fully understood, Horner said: “What we have sets a precedent. And it sets a precedent before 2022.
“And the danger for 2022 is that there could be six teams in breach of the cap. Energy prices have been exponential.
“Thankfully, we’ve been protected. But there is that chance that several teams, many of which have stated [so] during F1 commission meetings, will break the cap this year.
“We do not believe that we will break the cap in 2022. But these penalties set a precedent for the future.
“So if you get 10% for 0.37% breach, what is 5%?”
Red Bull’s main 2021 rival Mercedes would not be drawn on whether it considered the penalty appropriate,team boss Toto Wolff instead choosing to laud the “robust governance” on display.
And when subsequently asked whether Red Bull’s sanction suggested it was now worth going beyond the cost cap and just taking the penalty, he said: “I think what you see that beyond the sporting penalty and the financial fine, it’s also reputational damage. In a world of transparency and good governance, that’s just not on anymore.
“Compliance-wise, whatever team you are, you’re responsible for representing your brand, your employees, your partners. And that’s why for us it wouldn’t be a business case.”
Wolff also made the point of bring up Red Bull’s 2022 submission, saying “I think they will have every interest to get it right this time”.
“Hopefully it’s enough of a deterrent so that it doesn’t happen anymore, with no other team [either].”
