UNITED KINGDOM: In 2021, Formula 1 delivered the most exciting season the sport has witnessed in recent years. Both drivers’ and constructors’ championship battles between Mercedes and Red Bull went deep into the season, unlike in the previous years.
The drivers’ championship was decided on the final lap of an exciting yet anticlimactic finale at Abu Dhabi. With the cost cap introduced for the first time in 2021, the car development race was also tightly knit.
The 2021 season saw plenty of action on the track, with the 7-time world champion Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen duelling each other throughout the season.
Off the track, there was no shortage of fireworks as Mercedes boss Toto Wolff and his Red Bull counterpart Christian Horner exchanged comments ever so often.
Mercedes successfully retained the Constructors’ championship for the 8th time running. Still, Lewis Hamilton was ‘robbed’ of his championship due to a disappointing show of race control by then-race director Michael Masi and the team of race stewards.
In the end, Max Verstappen benefitted from the decisions made by race control and claimed his first driver’s championship.
In early October, Red Bull had overspent their allotted budget of $145 million in 2021. The cost cap administration found Red Bull guilty of a minor overspending breach, which means that Red Bull overspent by 5% of $145 M.
The FIA is yet to announce what action will be taken against Red Bull. Recently, a video of an interview with Ross Brawn resurfaced in which he can be heard saying that the cost cap regulations “have teeth”. He adds that if any team “fraudulently” broke the cost cap, they would lose their championship.
The team from Milton Keynes maintains that they have not breached the regulations. They expressed their surprise and disappointment regarding the FIA’s ruling.
The exact amount of overspending by the team isn’t clear as the 5% margin can cover any amount up to $7,25 M. Zak Brown, the CEO of McLaren racing, in an open letter, urged the FIA to tighten up the margin by reducing it in half, i.e., 2.5%.
When a media outlet asked Bernie Ecclestone for his views on the cost cap saga about potentially losing championship points in 2021, he warned that it would get worse.
Also Read: Cost Cap Infringement Allegations Arise on a Potentially Historic F1 Weekend for Redbull
