Red Bull team boss Christian Horner may have just seen his team feel the brunt of sanctions levied by the FIA for overspending on their budget in 2021, but it seems like little has changed at the Milton-Keynes based outfit.
Horner has admitted that he is once again unsure whether his team has been able to work within the stipulated budget and the team may well have overspent once again.
This is a damning assessment for FIA, as it goes to show just how little regard Red Bull has paid to the punishment that it faced for its 2021 overspend.
2021 marked the first year when teams had to work within a set budget cap, a figure set at $145 million.
Red Bull was found guilty to have made a “minor” breach of this cap.
This led to a financial fine of $7 million and perhaps more importantly, a reduction in wind tunnel development time by 10 per cent.
Horner himself has agreed to the fact that this development embargo has had a significant impact on the Milton Keynes-based squad.
“You could never be 100% sure,” Horner said.
“But certainly [after] all the aspects that were a reason for us to be over in 2021, which remember it was a very first year of a set of very complicated regulations, we’re confident that we should be comfortably within the cap.”
Horner confessed that fewer crashes and less development in 2022 compared to 2021 makes him relatively confident that his team will be able to stay within the budget.
“For 2022, the amount of development we did – and particularly crash damage that we had – was significantly less,” he said.
“So, until you’ve got the certificate [of compliance], nothing is 100%. But I’d be very surprised if we weren’t fully within the cap.”