In October last year, Red Bull Racing violated the financial rules and thus exceeded the allowed budget. For this, the team was fined $7 million and also received a sports penalty in the form of a 10% restriction on the ability to conduct aerodynamic studies in the next 12 months.
Despite the restrictions, Red Bull Racing continues to dominate Formula 1, and Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur attributes this advantage to rivals with a soft fine for breaking the rules.
Frederic Wasser: “These results [Red Bull Racing] they tell me the fine was insignificant. They did a good job, but I still think the fine is very mild. It is necessary to take into account the pace of development of the machine during the season – they are not linear. If your employment opportunities decrease by 10%, you will stop working at the end of the year.
In addition, the money you save by not working in the wind tunnel can be spent on other things, such as reducing the weight of the car and so on. With such an advantage at the start of the season, I’m not sure the penalty will have any noticeable effect as they already spent over a year before.
I’m not trying to say they did a bad job. I think Red Bull has a very good car and I don’t make excuses for us. But if you ask me if I think the fine is too lenient, I say yes.”
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
