Rumor: Six F1 teams could breach budget cap this year (2nd Update)

(GMM) The budget cap saga may be about to boil over, Red Bull’s top Austrian official Dr Helmut Marko warns.

In the days before the Brazilian GP, it emerged that Sky Sports’ Formula 1 producer Billy McGinty visited Red Bull’s UK factory to smooth over strained relations as a result of allegedly biased budget cap coverage.

It is believed officials of Liberty Media-owned Formula 1 were also involved in the talks, in the wake of Red Bull’s $7 million fine and wind tunnel penalty for the 2021 budget overspend.

Marko, though, thinks the budget cap saga is only just beginning.

“I think the current status is that six teams are over it,” he told Auto Motor und Sport when asked if a similar story will break out over the 2022 cap.

“Inflation is something that was not calculable to that extent, especially when it comes to the energy costs.”

Both Marko and Red Bull team boss Christian Horner, however, insist that Red Bull will be among the four teams who manage to stay below the cap this time.

“Energy prices have been increasing exponentially, but thankfully we’ve been protected from that,” Horner said recently.

“There is that chance that several teams, many of which have stated it during F1 Commission meetings, will break the cap this year.”

Unsurprisingly, Marko has mixed feelings about the budget cap and whether the measure has even been effective.

“So far, the budget cap hasn’t changed anything at all. You just have to develop better than the others,” he said.

“Of course it hurts us to have fewer wind tunnel hours, which we already have after winning the constructors’ championship. But in the end, it always comes down to the quality of the staff.

“For the first year, the rules were vague and they reacted late with clarifications. We had Ernst and Young check everything and thought we had a safety net of three million. In the end it was only $400,000.

“With that money, they make a front wing for Hamilton while Haas makes a whole new car,” he laughed.

Despite the increase to the cap, Dr. Helmut Marko believes next year’s analysis of the team’s 2022 accounts will have even more drama than ’21’s, after Red Bull were found to have committed a Minor Overspend Breach, while Aston Martin and Williams were both found to have committed Procedural Breaches.

“I think the current status is that six teams are over it,” Marko told Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport, when asked about whether teams might struggle to stay within budget.

“Inflation is something that was not calculable to that extent, especially when it comes to energy costs.”

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has warned that six F1 teams are in danger of breaching the budget cap for this year.

The newly crowned constructors’ champions became the first to break the financial regulations that came into force last season by £1.864million, or 1.6 percent of the £118m cap.

Horner believes the FIA’s Cost Cap Administration has “set a precedent for 2022” with its punishment, which could have major ramifications if his claims are proven to be correct with regard to the potential number of guilty teams for this year.

“The danger for 2022 is there could be six teams in breach of the cap,” said Horner. “Energy prices have been exponential. Thankfully, we’ve been protected.

“There is that chance that several teams, many of which have stated during Formula 1 Commission meetings, will break the cap this year.

“I do not believe we will break the cap in 2022

“But these penalties have set a precedent for the future. So if you get 10 percent for a 0.37 percent breach, what is a five percent breach going to be worth?”

Horner’s 0.37 percent claim refers to the CCA noting that had Red Bull correctly filed tax documentation, it would only have breached the cap by £432,652 or 0.37 percent.

“The FIA have set a precedent with us to what amounts to a 0.37 percent overspend,” added Horner.

“So the FIA has taken a firm and aggressive stance on that to demonstrate they will take any breach severely.”