McLaren principal demands FIA punishes Red Bull for budget cap breach

The McLaren team principal, Zak Brown, has demanded the FIA imposes serious sporting and financial punishments on Red Bull for their breach of Formula One’s budget cap. In a letter to the sport’s governing body Brown insisted there should be hard-hitting action against what he described as “cheating”.

Brown wrote to the president of the FIA, Mohammed ben Sulayem, and to the F1 chief executive, Stefano Domenicali. The letter was also then circulated to the other teams who have not been found to be in breach of the cap.

Penalties the FIA could impose on Red Bull include financial sanctions or a potential deduction of points from drivers or team, which could have a material effect on the outcome of the 2021 world championship, won narrowly by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen by eight points over Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton. Brown was emphatic no team had any excuse for failing to remain within the budget.

“The overspend breach, and possibly the procedural breaches, constitute cheating by offering a significant advantage across technical, sporting and financial regulations,” he wrote.

“The FIA has run an extremely thorough, collaborative and open process. We have even been given a one-year dress rehearsal (in 2020), with ample opportunity to seek any clarification if details were unclear. So, there is no reason for any team to now say they are surprised.”

Last week after the Japanese Grand Prix the FIA announced its assessment of the teams’ submissions for spending during the 2021 season. It concluded that Red Bull had overspent the $145m cap, with a “procedural” and a “minor” breach, the latter can be anything up to 5% of the cap, as much as $7.25m.

Red Bull maintain they believe their submission was well within the cap, expressing