Horner fury as Red Bull fined £6m for breach

RED BULL were yesterday fined £6million and stripped of wind-tunnel time after being found in breach of last season’s budget cap. But, as Sportsmail revealed earlier this month, Max Verstappen’s controversial world championship success over Lewis Hamilton in Abu Dhabi has not been overturned. Red Bull were found to have overspent the £114m limit by £1.86m or 1.6 per cent, though the FIA said they had not acted in ‘bad faith, dishonestly or in a fraudulent manner’. Despite that, the Milton Keynes-based team face a fairly hefty double sanction, the fine which must be paid within 30 days and a 10-per-cent reduction in the use of their wind tunnel and aerodynamic tools. Team principal Christian Horner said his cars will be handicapped by a quarter to half a second next season after agreeing to the Accepted Breach Agreement penalties offered by the FIA. Speaking in Mexico City ahead of tomorrow’s grand prix, Horner argued the overspend had no bearing on performance in 2021 and was mainly due to how a tax credit worth £1.4m was mistakenly included within the cap. Without that, Red Bull would have been over budget by £432,652 or 0.37 per cent — a figure accounted for by the costs of disputed catering, redundancy and sick pay. Asked if his team would apologise, Horner responded: ‘To be honest with you, we are due an apology from our rivals for the claims they have made (of fraudulence and suggestions the breach was close to the £10m mark). We make no apology for the way we have performed and acted. ‘We have taken a very public pounding. Our drivers have been booed and the reputational damage from these allegations has been significant. The time is for that now to stop and move on. ‘This hasn’t overshadowed Max’s achievements. He won last year’s world championship fair and square.’ McLaren chief executive Zak Brown was unimpressed by the penalty, saying: ‘Sanctions have to be much stronger in future.’