Red Bull in trouble because of the RB17?
The technical directive TD045 issued by the FIA as regards the F1 Non-Activities it could be much more problematic for Red Bull than the TD039 dating back to last summer aimed at regulating the ‘flexible’ fund of some teams. If last August the RB18 demonstrated by dominating in Belgium that it had not lost performance after the TD039, 12 months later the new technical directive issued by the Federation could once again hit the Milton Keynes team already guilty of a minor infraction of the 2021 budget cap .
Team principal Christian Horner said Red Bull was several million under its 2022 spending cap thanks to limited updates and virtually no crashes. The RB17 luxury hypercar project, however, could, unlike what was hypothesized by Red Bull, be counted within the budget cap, thus increasing ‘the taxable amount’ of the Anglo-Austrian team.
“Apparently three teams may have exceeded the budget cap in 2022 – the words of Helmut Marko reported by the header motorsport-total.com – at Red Bull we are developing the RB17, a hypercar that will go on sale in 2025, and we have people working on both that project and on F1. Some of our personnel have asked not to travel anymore and not to directly experience the pressure that characterizes work on the track. So it was natural for us to include them in projects like the one related to the RB17. Obviously work hours are counted based on what project they put in each day, but how do you keep track of everything? The whole cost cap issue is still too open to interpretation and too weak in the facts, for this reason there are still ongoing discussions. Everything that revolves around the budget cap is a sphere that needs to be improved”.
The ‘connections’ between the top teams and some satellite companies both as regards extra-F1 projects and as regards the supply of materials are a subject in the crosshairs of the FIA which could also affect Mercedes although Toto Wolff has stated on several occasions that the books of the Brackley team are open, transparent and available to the Federation. The number one of the three-pointed star wall had long discussions with the FIA men in Budapest and is on the same wavelength as Helmut Marko regarding a regulation that is still too fluid: “Many teams employ thousands of people involved in commercial and non-commercial projects and it is extremely difficult to assess their contribution or otherwise to the performance of the car, we need to improve this aspect for the new 2026 regulations”.
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