Budget 2021: McLaren calls for sanctions against Red Bull

This is a matter that is causing a lot of controversy. A week after the report released by the FIA, revealing that Red Bull had exceeded the allowed budget limit in 2021, many stakeholders have reacted. First, within the paddock and then outside. On Twitter, William Storey had posted a message in which he congratulated Lewis Hamilton for his title following the announcement.

More recently, statements have resurfaced from the side of the pit stops. Zak Brown, the boss of McLaren, expressed his outrage at this announcement. He wants the FIA to take strong measures so as not to downplay the consequences of these actions. Therefore, the American sent a letter to the teams not affected by the budget overrun (Mercedes, Alpine, Ferrari, Haas, Alfa Romeo, and Williams) to inform them.

In order for the penalties to apply in 2023.

Exceeding the budget, as well as potential administrative infractions, constitute cheating which offers a significant advantage through technical, sporting, and financial regulations. In short, any team that has spent too much money has gained an unfair advantage both for the development of the current season’s car, but also for the following year, he wrote.

« We don’t believe that only a financial penalty is an appropriate sanction for a budget overrun or a serious breach of procedure; there clearly needs to be a sporting penalty in these cases, as determined by the FIA. »

In this same letter, Zak Brown assures that a two million dollar increase is equivalent to a 25 to 50% increase in the development budget of a car. This would therefore have a significant and lasting positive effect.

For him, Red Bull deserved to see its wind tunnel time reduced and the various penalties applied in 2023 in order to mitigate the unfair advantage.