Red Bull fined US$7m

PARIS – Red Bull have been fined US$7 million for breaking Formula One’s budget rules but will not have points deducted from their 2021 total, the sport’s governing body said yesterday.

Red Bull will also be penalised with a 10 per cent reduction in permitted aerodynamic research.

The FIA confirmed the team, which carried Max Verstappen to a contentious championship victory over Lewis Hamilton last year, overspent by £1.86 million (US$2.15 million) in 2021.

The 10 per cent cut is in the time they can spend using their wind tunnel or computational fluid dynamics to design their car.

The punishment comes after Red Bull acknowledged they were at fault and entered into a so-called ‘accepted breach agreement’ with the FIA.

Speculation

It follows two weeks of speculation that generated criticism of the management of the procedure and calls for harsher sporting penalties instead of a fine.

It was expected to be resolved at the United States Grand Prix last weekend, but it was postponed following the death of Red Bull patriarch Dietrich Mateschitz during final talks on an ‘accepted breach agreement’ (ABA).

Many teams felt that the punishment should have set an example, notably as the breach related to the 2021 season when Verstappen clinched his maiden drivers’ title with Red Bull in contentious circumstances at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, passing seven-time champion Hamilton of Mercedes on the final lap after an irregular Safety Car decision.

Red Bull’s acceptance of an ABA signalled that the team had admitted the offence, a move that brought less severe punishment than might have been if the saga had continued.