Red Bull F1 News: Christian Horner Says Team "Can't Be 100% Sure" They Haven't Exceeded 2022 Cost Cap
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has recently voiced concerns about the team's compliance with Formula 1's budget cap regulations. Despite the team's attempts to reduce spending and adhere to the new rules, Horner admitted that the team cannot be certain that it has not overspent.
Red Bull was found to have breached the budget cap during the 2021 season, the first year that the cap was in place. While the team was only guilty of a "minor" breach, the FIA still imposed a $7 million fine and docked development time from Red Bull, which has had significant consequences for the team.
During an interview with Auto Motor und Sport, Horner explained:
“You could never be 100% sure.
“But certainly [after] all the aspects that were a reason for us to be over in 2021, which remember it was a very first year of a set of very complicated regulations, we’re confident that we should be comfortably within the cap.”
The particular aspects that are giving Horner confidence the team should be within the budget cap are that the team had less crashes in 2022 and did not develop the car as much throughout the season.
He continued:
“For 2022, the amount of development we did – and particularly crash damage that we had – was significantly less.
“So, until you’ve got the certificate [of compliance], nothing is 100%. But I’d be very surprised if we weren’t fully within the cap.”
Red Bull are heading into the upcoming 2023 season aiming to defend their constructors' championship title and so will Max Verstappen with the drivers' title.
Helmut Marko, Red Bull advisor, has been open with the fact he sees Mercedes being more of a threat to the team than Ferrari, who came second in both the drivers' and constructors' championships in 2022.