Brundle finds budget cap soap a mess: 'The rules are not right'

F1 News

21 October 2022 at 19:08
  • GPblog.com

There is currently a lot of confusion in the paddock regarding Red Bull Racing's budget cap breach. Martin Brundle has criticised the current mess.

After the Japanese Grand Prix, the FIA announced that Red Bull had exceeded the 2021 budget cap. This was a minor breach of less than five per cent of the total amount. The team itself claims it followed the rules.

A meeting between Christian Horner and FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem will take place over the weekend before the US Grand Prix to discuss the situation, although communication has so far been strained. The FIA is said to have proposed a mutual agreement to Red Bull.

During a Sky Sports broadcast, analyst Brundle let it be known that he is not happy about the situation. According to the Briton, it is not right that there is room for teams to spend several million extra, while this is then only seen as a minor offence.

'The rules need to be changed'

"It’s a mess all around because we’re talking about 2021 of course, not this season. We’ve got some hearsay, we don’t have any facts as to how much have overspent, what it means, what the penalty could be", the former Formula 1 driver begins.

"It’s described as a minor breach if it’s up to seven million dollars. Clearly the regulations are not right, they’ve got to be changed because most teams will tell you that’s a season-long development budget. The terminology, a minor breach, suggests that it wasn’t of great gravity. Clearly it is, Red Bull are very sensitive about it", Brundle ends.