According to a report by PlanetF1.com, Sky Sports F1 commentator David Croft denies Red Bull’s claims that the minor overspend resulted in no benefits.
Christian Horner was confident that his team would be okay when the FIA announced that Red Bull breached the budget cap, and Red Bull’s statement made it seem like they didn’t expect it to be over.
Horner argued in a statement that the team had expected to come in well under budget and that these kinds of issues were bound to arise within the first rule of such a significant change.
“What you have to look at is what are the relevant costs? And what are the relevant costs within the cap and what’s outside of the cap? That’s where the interpretation comes from,” Horner said.
“Our view is our relevant costs are within the cap. Now obviously, we are in discussion with the FIA about what those costs are and what are mitigating potential circumstances. We had zero benefit from a development perspective or an operational perspective, either for 2021 or 2022.
“From the way we operated within the cap, our submission was significantly below the cap. We expected certain things to be potentially challenged or clarified, as is the process in a brand new set of regulations, but based on external, professional accounting third parties, the interpretation of those rules of a 52-page document to police this, we are very clear from our side.”
David Croft, a Sky Sports F1 analyst, disagreed, saying that any form of spending benefited a team and that there was a “shadow” hanging over the club’s title triumph.
“There’s a shadow hanging over it,” David Croft told a broadcaster in a 2022 season review. “[It is a shame for Max Verstappen] because it’s not Max’s fault that the team have gone out and overspent by £432k.
“I take the point completely that the Verstappen camp are not hugely happy about that and however Red Bull say there was no benefit, there has to be a benefit because they were the only team that spent more than the cost cap allowed.
“So within that regard, there has to be a benefit in some way, shape or form from that overspend.”
The FIA stated that Red Bull has been fined $7 million and will have a 10% time reduction to spend to aerodynamic research in 2023 for exceeding last year’s budget cap.
