F1: Red Bull Racing fined $7m for breaching financial regulations
Red Bull have entered an Accepted Breach Agreement (ABA) with the FIA following a breach of the 2021 Financial Regulations, F1’s governing body have said.
For the first time in F1 history, all 10 teams were required to submit accounts of their annual spending against the Cost Cap for 2021 by the following March.
On Friday in Mexico, the FIA announced Red Bull was found to be in breach.
“The Cost Cap Administration recognised that Red Bull Racing has acted cooperatively throughout the review process and has sought to provide additional information and evidence when requested in a timely manner, that this is the first year of the full application of the Financial Regulations and that there is no accusation or evidence that RBR (Red Bull Racing) has sought at any time to act in bad faith, dishonestly or in fraudulent manner, nor has it wilfully concealed any information from the Cost Cap Administration,” said the FIA.
“In these circumstances, the Cost Cap Administration offered to RBR an ABA to resolve this matter. That offer was accepted by RBR.”
In the summary, it was revealed Red Bull exceeded the 2021 Cost Cap of £118,036,000 by less than 5% (£1,864.000 or 1.6%), which is a minor breach. The FIA said they acknowledge that had Red Bull applied “the correct treatment within its Full Year Reporting Documentation of their Notional Tax Credit within its 2021 submission of a value of £1,431,438” and therefore they would have exceeded the cap by $432,652 or 0.37%.
Regarding sanctions, Red Bull must pay $7million to the FIA within 30 days of the date of execution of the ABA.
They also receive a minor sporting penalty in the form of 10% reduction in their allocated Restricted Wind Tunnel Testing and Restricted Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) limits.
Based on Red Bull’s championship position, the coefficient used to calculate their allocation will drop from 70% to 63%.
Red Bull will also bear the costs incurred by the Cost Cap Administration in connection with the preparation of the ABA.
The FIA said the decision of the Cost Cap Administration to enter into the ABA “constitutes its final decision resolving this matter and is not subject to appeal”.
Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner is expected to comment on the news later on Friday morning in Mexico City.
Non-compliance by Red Bull with any terms of the ABA will result in further procedural breach and automatic referral to the Cost Cap Adjudication Panel.
Earlier this year, Williams were fined $25,000 following a procedural breach of the financial rules. The British team missed the deadline to submit their annual spending.
