McLaren Racing boss Zak Brown Writes to the FIA

Budget cap violation at Red Bull "constitutes cheating" - Zak Brown, CEO of McLaren has stated

The continuing saga with Red Bull and the budget cap breach in the winning season for them of 2021 is still ongoing.

Zak Brown of McLaren Racing is the most recent prominent F1 expert to weigh in on the discussion around Red Bull's alleged violation of the sport's cost cap in 2021, offering a variety of suitable penalties for violating teams.

Zak wrote - "Any team who have overspent have gained an unfair advantage both in the current and following year's car development,”. Adding about what the FIA should to do in this situation "communicate subsequent action and penalties at pace to maintain the integrity of F1".

He has written a letter about this and sent it to the FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem. The FIA had stated that Red Bull was guilty of a breach of the cap for costs in the previous year, but only a minor one, but still have not released any details about the case on Red Bull. Brown in his letter it is said, did not mention Red Bull or Aton Martin for that matter, who were fined for a procedural breach earlier in the year.

To remedy what Brown perceives as flaws in the way the cost cap was implemented in its first season, Brown suggests amending the guidelines.

He wrote - "To avoid teams accumulating and benefiting from the multiplier effect of several minor overspend breaches, we suggest that a second minor overspend breach automatically moves the team to a major breach,"

"Finally, given the financials involved, a 5% threshold for a minor overspend breach seem far too large of a variance. We suggest a lower threshold, 2.5%, is more appropriate."

In an effort to cut expenses, Formula One (F1) established its first-ever set of financial regulations in 2020, capping teams' spending at $145 million per season starting in 2021, with an additional $5 million cut over the next two years.

In 2021 it was found that 3 teams did not receive certificates of compliance on this matter - Aston Martin, Red Bull, and Williams.

Toto Wolff, the head of Mercedes, has called any violation of the cost cap rules a "heavyweight" offence, while Laurent Mekies, the sporting director of Ferrari, has suggested that there should be "far-reaching consequences" for any team that violates them.

Red Bull has not yet disclosed whether it will accept the FIA's conclusions and engage into an "accepted breach agreement" or reject them and insist on appearing before the alleged cost-cap adjudication panel.

Time will tell and we will have to wait on the outcome, but it certainly getting heated a bit in the camps of the F1 teams and Red Bull have recently come out to that their rival teams in Formula One are waging a "concerted campaign for a draconian penalty" because of their budget cap issue, but Red Bull understandably just "wanted closure on 2021" and are in talks with the FIA, so Christian Horner for Red Bull has stated.

Sadly, Dietrich Mateschitz the co-owner for Red Bull, passed away earlier on Saturday at the age of 78, leaves a significant legacy in both Formula 1 and world business. He is credited with creating energy drinks and establishing one of the most successful F1 teams in contemporary history. After qualifying for the Austin Grand Prix Max Verstappen looked emotional when he paid tribute to Mateschitz.