Red Bull team boss Christian Horner put on his glasses at his press conference in Mexico this afternoon. Max Verstappen’s team boss explained why he thought the penalty for going over budget was draconian.

Red Bull Racing were fined €7m earlier in the day and will be allowed to spend 10 per cent less time in the wind tunnel next winter. “That will cost us 0.2 to 0.5 seconds per lap next year,” said the grumpy Horner. “And 7 million is a huge sum, we have to find that within a month.”

“It’s nonsense that the opposing teams think that’s a soft punishment. It’s a severe punishment,” grumbled the team boss.

Not on appeal

However, Red Bull will not appeal. “That could drag the issue out for another year. We’re not waiting for that. We want to close the book and take this punishment with mixed feelings.”

“It is important for Formula 1 that this affair is ended now. Everyone can learn from that.”

The FIA ​​​​penalizes the team for exceeding the budget limit of 145 million in 2021, Verstappen’s first championship year. Red Bull spent 2.2 million euros too much. Almost 1.8 million of these were tax expenses. According to Horner, the FIA ​​​​ultimately did not take this 1.8 million into account, so it is a violation of about 435,000 euros.

Not a dime to the car

Horner agreed that Red Bull was the only team to overspend. “But not a single penny was spent on improving the car,” he said. “There was no performance benefit.”

According to the team boss, Red Bull had a disagreement with the FIA ​​over some expenses. “The breach consists of a fiscal part, some spare parts and catering. We had thought that catering for our employees and guests would not fall below the budget limit. The FIA ​​​​decided differently,” said Horner.

In addition, Red Bull felt it was unjustified for employee wage costs to be included in the budget rules of the Sick Pay Act. “Obviously our sick staff weren’t working on the car and didn’t affect performance.”

Horner reported that the team submitted an indicative budget to the FIA ​​in April 2021. There was no reply, so the team assumed everything was fine. Just last month, Red Bull heard that some parts (like catering and sick staff) were falling under the budget cap. And that too much money was spent on it.

complex matter

“We have always been open and transparent with the FIA, we have expressed our opinion and vision,” said an irritated Horner, who admitted that the other teams had interpreted the rules correctly.

“That’s because there are all sorts of ways to interpret the rules, it’s a complex thing. If we made a mistake, we didn’t do it on purpose.” The FIA ​​was also very clear: we will not be accused of cheating or unfair play.”

Although other teams would have liked a higher penalty for Red Bull, Horner thinks the penalty is quite high. “You really know that this has a huge impact on our team.”

“Max deservedly won that title last year, he’s the champion he deserves. The mistakes we made didn’t contribute in any way to his world title.”

No excuses

Horner promised that his team would not have any problems with the financial rules in the future. “We learned from it that it won’t happen to us again. Although with the current inflation and gas prices it will be quite a challenge,” he sighed.

The team boss refused to apologize. “Other teams should apologize to us for all the hurtful things they’ve said about us over the past few days.”