McLaren's Zak Brown the first F1 team boss to openly accuse Red Bull of cheating

Adrian Newey, one of the most successful and recognisable Formula 1 designers in history, is reportedly at the centre of the budget cap scandal.

This week, McLaren supremo Zak Brown wrote a letter to FIA president Mohammed ben Sulayem accusing Red Bull of "cheating" by spending above the budget cap limit en route to the 2021 title.

The FIA has found the energy drink-owned team in "minor" breach of the 2021 cap, with an appropriate penalty now being negotiated.

"The penalties will come later," correspondent Allesandra Retico told the Italian newspaper La Repubblica. "But a fine would not be a deterrent against transgressing."

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Huge impact

Indeed, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff thinks even a $10 million fine for a hypothetical $2 million overspend would not be appropriate.

"If you spend $5 million too much, and that's apparently a minor infraction, it still has a huge impact on the championship," he said.

"Even if Red Bull spent 2 million more, they cannot fix the matter even by paying five times more to the FIA."

In his leaked letter to ben Sulayem, McLaren's Brown is the first team boss to outwardly accuse Red Bull of "cheating".

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

"We don't feel a financial penalty alone would be a suitable penalty for an overspend breach or a serious procedural breach."

Even former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, who has been historically close to Red Bull, is on the record predicting that the penalty will be "worse" than a fine.

Brown proposes that Red Bull's 2023 budget cap should