With Red Bull now confirmed to have breached Formula 1’s cost cap, Sky Sports F1’s Martin Brundle says the FIA should “crack down” and show consequences are going to “hurt”; Red Bull, who insist they have followed financial rules, are not believed to have overspent by much

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Martin Brundle discusses the cost cap system after it was announced Red Bull overstepped the 2021 cap by less than five per cent

Sky Sports F1’s Martin Brundle believes Red Bull have not committed a “great crime” with their cost cap breach but has urged the FIA to tighten up its “crazy” rules and to hand out a punishment that is going to “hurt”.

After weeks of speculation, it was finally confirmed on Monday that Red Bull were found guilty of a ‘minor’ breach of last year’s $145m budget cap, meaning they have exceeded the legal amount by less than five per cent.

Potential penalties range from financial to sporting and even the docking of points, although with Red Bull fiercely contesting the FIA’s verdict – and not thought to be much over the limit – a severe punishment is not expected.

Still, Brundle says the rules need to be looked at to discourage breaches in the future, as he weighed in on the F1 controversy on Any Driven Monday.

“What seems absolutely crazy to me is that a minor breach can be up to five per cent overspend on the cost cap,” said the Sky Sports F1 pundit. “That is $7m and we know that is a massive upgrade on a car, maybe even a B-spec for some teams.

“So, that needs tightening up for starters, because what is the point in having $145m and then having this five per cent variant?

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In a feature complete before Red Bull’s cost cap breach was confirmed, Sky Sports F1’s Karun Chandhok looks at how the FIA can effectively police it

“Other teams are saying, ‘this gives you a head start into 2022, the car is carried over to 2023 so this is a big advantage’.”

It has been reported that Red Bull are £1.8m ($2m) or less over the budget cap, which debuted in 2021 to level F1’s playing field.

“It’s not, it appears, the great crime we were being told by other team principals in Singapore,” said Brundle. “We now await the news.

“I am assuming that the FIA will have to crack down hard on any minor breaches but it looks like it could be a reprimand or a fine. Will they want to revisit points, will it be manufacturers’ points or drivers’ points for 2021?

“How hard do the FIA want to be on this?”

When and how will Red Bull be punished? | ‘It has to hurt’

The FIA has not yet specified when Red Bull’s punishment will be revealed, but the team’s staunch defence on Monday night makes an ‘accepted breach agreement’ – where they would agree on an infringement with the cost cap panel and a punishment – unlikely. When the penalties are revealed may come down to how hard Red Bull want to fight their corner.

The penalties listed by the FIA for a minor breach include a deduction of drivers’ and constructors’ championship points, which if applied could have an impact on the contentious 2021 title battle between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, and a suspension.

Other, more realistic, penalties could be a reprimand, fine, a limitation to conduct aerodynamic or other testing, and/or a reduction in that team’s future cost cap limit.

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Red Bull boss Christian Horner says he is ‘not aware’ of any F1 budget cap breach during the 2021 season. Mercedes boss Toto Wolff described it as a ‘heavyweight’ issue

“It has got to be made clear that you stick to the cost cap or just under it or otherwise it is going to hurt,” insisted Brundle.

“We’ll see if the FIA want to come down hard on the first year. But certainly it needs tightening up. We need clarity and it needs to be rigid and a five per cent variance is way too much.”

On the wait for a punishment, Brundle added: “It’s very disappointing that that information hasn’t been supplied.

“We’re talking about the 2021 season, not this season. Quite why they haven’t been able to get to the details… presumably there’s some squabbling going on behind the scenes to mitigate this to explain and come up with some reasoning.

“But it’s thoroughly disappointing that we’ve now had this announcement of what’s happened, but we don’t know the consequences.”

Has cost-cap controversy damaged F1?

Despite the controversy, Brundle does not believe it has harmed the integrity of the sport.

“I think the cost cap system is brilliant in terms of, it has been a cornerstone of why Formula 1 has been a better place than, in my view, it has ever been. Something that equalises all of these 10 teams is really hard to do.

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“I guess there’s going to be a number of areas on what costs were in and out. Stopping teams spending two and three hundred million has been achieved but now we need to tighten up the last few million to make it fair. Fundamentally it has been a success but it’s about the details now.

“I think as long as it’s controlled and the penalties are crystal clear and hard enough [the cost cap works]. I think it’s a bit like a double diffuser or floppy front wing, people gamed that system as well.

“It’s Formula 1 for you, it’s all about reading the regulations once to see what they’re saying and twice to see how you get around them to try and beat your rivals.

“I think it’s fundamentally a good system – in its early stages – and a cornerstone of why Formula 1 is so strong at the moment.”