It was recently reported that Red Bull had overspent its 2021 budget cap, with many teams going on to claim that the additional money used by the team aiding its performance by almost half-a-second per lap.
This had led to many pundits pondering just how disheartened Lewis Hamilton would be feeling, having missed out to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen by the narrowest of margins in last year’s epic finale.
However, after FIA reached its conclusion that Red Bull had indeed indulged over the budget cap, the main reason for this has now been found.
It may come as a surprise to some but predominantly funny to most that one of the major reasons that Red Bull exceeded its budget was so that it could provide free lunch to its staff, owing to the catering costs involved.
There was early speculation that exceeding the budget cap may even lead to Verstappen’s maiden F1 championship being taken away and instead handed to Hamilton.
But FIA confirmed that it was only a “minor breach” to the tune of less than 5 percent ($7.25m), with Red Bull’s Christian Horner still adamant that his team did nothing wrong.
Where did Red Bull spend its money?
A report in Dutch newspaper Telegraaf claims that Red Bull only exceeded its budget by around $1-$1.5 million.
The team employs around 1000 staff and daily free lunches at the Milton Keynes headquarter may well be seen as a significant expenditure in that sense.
At least that’s what the report goes on to suggest.
Other overhead costs include hiring temporary employees to cover for absent staff who were out due to illness.
The report says that Red Bull expects to receive a fine as its punishment.
Aston Martin was also guilty of overspending in 2021 and will likely have to pay a fine in the region of $25,000, similar to the one paid by Williams earlier in the season for a procedural breach.
Meanwhile, Max Verstappen claimed his second title in as many years after his triumph in Japan and has done so with five races still to go.
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