In conjunction with Max Verstappen’s victory, the Singapore Grand Prix of 2022 sparked a lot of debate over claims that his team, Red Bull, strayed above the newly enforced Formula 1 budget cap the year prior. As the team principal of Red Bull, Christian Horner, vehemently insisted that the financial records filed by his team in March of 2022 adhered to the budget cap and agreed with the financial standards stipulated by the FIA, this topic sparked controversy within the F1 world.
In 2021, Aston Martin was also accused of spending a great deal of money, although these allegations were solely based on rumors that were emerging among F1 spectators. A spending cap was instituted by F1 and the FIA in 2021 to level the playing field and stop big corporations from buying their way to success.
Christian Horner feels no need to apologise for the budget cap breach 🗣#F1 #RedBullRacing #Motorsport pic.twitter.com/fkJt8yKUYM
— Motorsport.com (@Motorsport) November 3, 2022
The upper ceiling, which was originally established at $145 million for the first season in 2021, has since been lowered to $140 million for 2022. The insertion of more races and sprint events, however, along with adjustments for inflation, have been made. With further adjustments to account for inflation and the addition of more events, the desired budget cap was expected to be $135 million in the current season, i.e., 2023 which has been adapted.
Did Rob Marshall have a role in the Red Bull budget cap controversy?
Rob Marshall, the chief engineer at Red Bull Racing who was recently appointed by the McLaren team, was a part of the organization for over a decade. As far as the budget cap breach is concerned, the technician had no evident role to play in the matter. In fact, Christian Horner when asked about this recent development, praised Marshall and addressed his work to be “outstanding” which brought in four championship doubles between the years of 2010 to 2013.
🚨 | Red Bull faces an exodus of technicians due to the cost cap says Marko
— RBR Daily (@RBR_Daily) May 30, 2023
“The budget cap in this sense is not a small problem especially for the numbers being offered. Sometimes these are 𝙙𝙤𝙪𝙗𝙡𝙚 what we currently pay the technicians in question”
[@FormulaPassion] pic.twitter.com/aI3Sv7hLnR
Although recent developments and speculations regarding a possible budget cap breach due to a lowered budget as compared to the last two seasons, that is resulting in limitations in the salaries paid to the technicians might be a possible reason behind Marshall’s shift to the McLaren team.
According to FIA President Mohamed Ben Sulayem, modifications are being made by Formula 1’s governing body to hasten the decision of fines for violating the sport’s cost cap. In the previous season, the FIA notified Red Bull that it had spent more than the $145 million cap and within a month, a fine was levied. Red Bull was fined $7 million and will have its aerodynamic testing limit reduced by 10% for the next 12 months, which was brought into the current season after exceeding the cap by 1.6%.
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