AUSTIN, Texas — Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said he was “appalled” by accusations from a rival during the Formula 1 cost cap controversy after the CEO of McLaren, Zak Brown, says a cap violation would constitute cheating.
After analyzing the accounts of the 10 teams, the FIA discovered that Red Bull was the only one to exceed the budget cap last year.
Although figures have not been made public, the overrun is estimated at $1.8 million, while Red Bull says accounts it submitted in March were below the $145 million cap.
Red Bull says the discrepancy is partly due to clarifications that were made in June about what fell under the cap last year, while sources say Red Bull has also not claimed a refund. tax of $1.4 million, adding to his overspending.
The FIA is currently discussing the details of the breach with Red Bull ahead of the next stage of the process, which will see the governing body present the team with an Accepted Breach Agreement (ABA) whereby Red Bull will have the option to accept a penalty. dictated by the FIA.
If he rejects the sanction, the case will be referred to the FIA’s cost cap arbitration committee made up of independent legal and accounting experts for a decision.
In the lead up to this weekend’s United States Grand Prix, Brown has written a letter to the FIA outlining his views on how an infringement should be handled.
The letter did not mention Red Bull directly, but stated that overspending “would constitute cheating by offering a significant advantage over technical, sporting and financial regulations” before proposing a sanction.
The letter infuriated Horner, who aired his feelings at a press conference at the United States Grand Prix as he sat right next to Brown.
“Obviously Zak’s letter, which was not copied to us but we saw this letter, was extremely disappointing,” Horner said. “To have another competitor accused of cheating, to accuse you of fraudulent activity is shocking. It’s absolutely shocking.
“Without the facts, without any knowledge of the details, to make this kind of accusation. We’ve been on trial on public charges for [the race in] Singapore. The rhetoric of cheaters, the rhetoric that we had this huge advantage, the numbers that have been published in the media are miles from reality.
“The damage this is doing to the brand, to our partners, to the drivers, to our workforce, in a time when mental health is prevalent, we are seeing significant issues in our workforce. We are getting children who are bullied in playgrounds who are the children of employees – it’s not fair through fictitious allegations from other teams.
“You can’t just make these kinds of allegations without any facts or basis. We are absolutely appalled by the behavior of some of our competitors.”
Given the opportunity to respond, Brown added: “My letter stated that if a team spends more than the cap, they will gain a benefit from the cap as with the technical rules of the sport.
“We’re not reviewing whether or not they’ve done it. My letter was ‘if anyone has,’ so here are the things we think should be addressed.
“It’s no different than if a ride height was incorrect or a flexi wing or whatever. I didn’t mention any teams, it was a blanket response now that we’re in the age of capping costs, so if someone breaks that, here’s what we think the ramifications are.
“I have no idea how many, I don’t know any of the details, if we had more money to spend it would have put us in a better light in terms of performance with more people and more upgrades, whatever the case.
“We think it will be a performance benefit and if someone has spent more than the allocated cost cap, it’s up to the FIA to determine whether or not they have.”
Horner also denied that his team’s overspending gave Red Bull an advantage in last year’s Championship.
“Absolutely not,” said Horner. “I think what you have to look at is what are the relevant costs? And were the relevance costs within the cap and what’s outside the cap. That’s where the interpretation comes from and our opinion is that our relevant costs are within the ceiling.
“Obviously we are in discussion with the FIA about the nature of those costs and what the potential mitigating circumstances etc.
“Our submission was significantly below the cap. We expected that some things would potentially be challenged or clarified, as would the process in a whole new set of regulations, but based on third-party external professional accountants, interpretations of these rules of a 52-page document to the police, that was very clear on our side.
“So we absolutely and categorically don’t believe that we had an advantage in 2021 or 2022, or in 23 or 24 or some teams are even talking about 26 – it’s totally fictional.”
Horner said the penalty system needed to be reviewed and clarified before next year as the wide range of penalties had allowed Red Bull’s rivals to campaign for the toughest penalties available for a minor breach without knowing the specifics. of the case.
“The set of penalties is completely subjective,” he added. “I think that’s what contributed to a concerted campaign for there to be a draconian sanction against Red Bull for what ultimately we’re probably talking about, which is in dispute with the FIA of a few hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“I will say later why I think we have a different opinion in this submission of what our position was compared to another. What has just been extremely disappointing throughout this process has been the leak that s occurred, suddenly we are judged and subjected to three weeks of effective abuse.
“Zak has a very practical recollection of the letter he sent accusing us of cheating and being fraudulent. It’s just not fair and it needs to stop.”
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