McLaren’s Zak Brown says Red Bull budget breach ‘constitutes cheating’ and calls for ‘sporting penalty’

McLaren boss Zak Brown has said Red Bull’s budget breach “constitutes cheating” and has called for the FIA to issue a “sporting penalty”.

Red Bull, along with Aston Martin, were also found to have committed a procedural breach – failing to fill in forms correctly.

Formula 1’s governing body, the FIA, has yet to decide on a punishment.

The BBC report that they have seen a letter from Brown to the FIA which says: “The overspend breach, and possibly the procedural breaches, constitute cheating by offering a significant advantage across technical, sporting and financial regulations.

“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.

“The bottom line is any team who has overspent has gained an unfair advantage both in the current and following year’s car development.

“We don’t feel a financial penalty alone would be a suitable penalty for an overspend breach or a serious procedural breach. There clearly needs to be a sporting penalty in these instances, as determined by the FIA.

“We suggest that the overspend should be penalised by way of a reduction to the team’s cost cap in the year following the ruling, and the penalty should be equal to the overspend plus a further fine – i.e. an overspend of $2m in 2021, which is identified in 2022, would result in a $4m deduction in 2023 ($2m to offset the overspend plus $2m fine).

“For context, $2m is (a) 25-50% upgrade to (an) annual car-development budget and hence would have a significant positive and long-lasting benefit.

“In addition, we believe there should be minor overspend sporting penalties of a 20% reduction in CFD and wind tunnel time. These should be enforced in the following year, to mitigate against the unfair advantage the team has and will continue to benefit from.”

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won the F1 title on the last day of the 2021 season and has already been crowned champion in 2022 with four races remaining.

Brown has called for the cost-cap rules to be “firmly” implemented to avoid similar situations in the future.

“It is paramount that the cost cap continues to be governed in a highly transparent manner, both in terms of the details of any violations and related penalties,” he wrote.

“It will also be important to understand if, after the first full year of running and investigating the scheme, there needs to be further clarity on certain matters or any key learnings. Again, any insights or learnings should be shared across all teams – there can be no room for loopholes.

“The cost cap introduction has been one of the main reasons we have attracted new shareholders and investors to F1 in recent years, as they see it as a way to drive financial and sporting fair play.

“It is therefore critical that we be very firm on implementing the rules of the cost cap for the integrity and the future of F1.”