The verdict on theaccusation which held court this week, causing an avalanche of declarations, inferences and denials. The teams mainly involved in this great interweaving, which has as its protagonist a new regulation introduced in 2021, the financial one and relating to the spending ceiling imposed on the teams, or the "budget cap" I am Red Bull and Aston Martin. Rumors that both would break the regulation in 2021 were circulated by two major teams: Mercedes and Ferrari. One is the direct contender for the Austrian team in achieving the 2021 world title, the other, at least until a few races ago, for the 2022 one.
The FIA should issue the result of the ruling today, declare if there are teams that have infringed the financial regulation in one of the three measures (procedural infringement, minor breach or major breach). There Red Bull, accused of having overstepped by a large sum (about 10 million), running into the "major" infraction, a few hours after the verdict, it would seem to fall under one of the minor infractions, if not the lowest.
What is Red Bull at risk?
Did Red Bull actually breach the budget cup? And above all what is the entity of these infractions? There are still several situations to unravel. The first is linked to the origin of the rumors about the financial statements of Red Bull and Aston Martin. There are those who claim there is a mole in the FIA. Some media first circulated the rumor, to which then teams like Mercedes and Ferrari would have supported each other to ask for justice but above all for an exemplary sentence.
Should there be talk of 3-4 or 10 million, it would still be too serious to overshadow the matter. The other knot to solve is linked to the appropriate penalty for an infraction of this magnitude, i.e. +5% of the budget cap. The regulation in this is not very clear. You can go from the reduction of points – and even here there is no parameter that indicates how many points should be reduced – to the most serious penalty or suspension from the championship. Another question to clarify is: since this report relates to 2021, should the sanction be applied to 2021 or to the following year? And if so, how will the 2022 world championship and the one to come be protected, in the event that Red Bull's guilt is proven? Also this season the Austrian team has accelerated and increased developments, generating many suspicions.
We are moving towards a lighter sentence
As the hours pass and the doubts increase, the teams continue to complain of an impropriety that would also have direct consequences on 2022 and 2023. The reports relating to this season will in fact not be available before next year. But as early as next week we could have both Red Bull and Verstappen world champions. One of the major problems of the budget cap is that it is not easy to determine what is or is not within the ceiling and this has meant that the rumors speak of a figure as high as that of 10 million.
A hurricane that has overwhelmed the FIA, F1, Red Bull, but which, according to the latest rumors from the Daily Mail it could be "downgraded" to a simple procedural violation. Indeed, it seems that the amount would actually be around 1 million pounds, a figure much lower than what the rumors suggested. A sanction that would not provide for sporting sanctions would "exonerate" everyone, including the FIA. This huge case could therefore turn out to be hot air, and affect the word "end" on the two world championships under discussion.
Source: FormulaPassion
