F1: Red Bull has reacted to budget cap scandal

(GMM) Dr Helmut Marko says Red Bull made significant changes over the winter to ensure last year’s budget cap scandal does not re-emerge.

The reigning champions paid a $7 million fine for the ‘minor’ 2021 overspend and had a further 10 percent of their wind tunnel time taken away.

“We have learned from the negative experience,” top team official Marko, 70, told APA news agency.

“We have massively increased the number of staff in the finance department,” he revealed, explaining that the budget cap has also become a wider political issue in F1.

“There are mathematical and tactical games that have to be taken into account now,” said Marko.

But former F1 driver Jan Lammers, who is now the Dutch GP boss, tips Red Bull to be able to cope with the penalties.

“They might have to do things a bit differently and try things in a different way, but of course they were already so good with the car,” he told De Telegraaf newspaper.

“A penalty like that would have been much more painful for a team like McLaren, who we now see are much less well off compared to last year,” the Dutchman added.

“Red Bull is such an impressive team, where everyone works with a lot of ambition. They know how to deal with a setback.”