Christian Horner has disclosed that Red Bull comfortably remained below the F1 cost cap in 2022, even as the FIA continued to scrutinize the financial submissions from all teams during that period.
Looking back at 2021, Red Bull faced consequences for a “minor overspend” in that season, resulting in a $7 million fine and a 10 per cent reduction in their wind tunnel time for the current season.
Introduced in the 2021 season, the cost cap has come under scrutiny during the ongoing fieldwork, focusing on the financial aspects of the 2022 season.
During the 2022 season, the budget cap was set at $140 million. Subsequently, for the current season and the next two campaigns, extending until 2025, the cost cap has been reduced to $135 million.
“Last year, Max [Verstappen] damaged one front wing and Checo [Perez] had a crash in Montreal, and again we had a very limited amount of development on the car,” Horner told Sky Sports F1.
“So we were several million below the cap last year, and because accident damage and development – they’re huge costs.
“Obviously this year, the biggest handicap we have is that lack of wind tunnel time, it’s significantly less runs in a week than any of our competitors, so we have to be very disciplined on where we focus our development.”
Contrary to some reports leading up to the Hungarian Grand Prix, alleging that at least two F1 teams breached the cost cap last year, Sky Sports News has confirmed that those allegations have been found to be entirely baseless.
