Max Verstappen can rest easy.

The Dutchman retains his title of world champion acquired last year, the FIA ​​having not touched the points of his team Red Bull after the "minor" violation of the budget ceiling - 1.6% of the ceiling, or 1.864 million euros. pound sterling.

Red Bull is the only team to have exceeded this cap, set up in 2021 for the first time and then set at 145 million dollars.

Several types of expenses are excluded, such as pilot salaries or marketing activities.

According to the FIA, Red Bull has "excluded and/or inaccurately adjusted costs amounting to a total of £5,607,000", although the final overrun is increased to £1.864 million (£2.17 million). euros at the current rate).

Limited sports sanction

A total of 13 points of non-compliance were noted.

Red Bull, for example, underestimated the activity of its engine department.

Other expense items, such as its catering service in the paddock or even costs related to social security or the stock of unused parts, are concerned.

According to his boss Christian Horner, at a press conference on Friday in Mexico City on the sidelines of the Mexican GP, ​​Red Bull did not derive "any benefit" from this overrun.

"Not a single penny (incriminated, editor's note) was spent on the performance," added the Briton.

Christian Horner, boss of the Red Bull team, on October 27, 2022 in front of the press at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City on the eve of the FIA's announcement of his team's budget overrun during the 2021 season ALFREDO ESTRELLA AFP

The FIA ​​praised Red Bull's "cooperation" in resolving this case, revealed by the body on October 10, and believes that the team did not want to act "dishonestly or in bad faith".

In addition, the FIA ​​explains that Red Bull having made a mistake on the declaration of its tax credit, the excess could have been limited to 432,652 pounds, or 0.37%.

Red Bull, which had initially welcomed "with surprise and disappointment the conclusions" and assured to be in good standing, therefore finally admitted to being at fault by accepting the agreement of the FIA.

The team now has 30 days to pay its fine of seven million dollars as well as the costs of the proceedings.

Aston Martin, another team pinned for a procedural defect, must also pay a fine of 450,000 dollars.

If the fine represents a "huge sum of money", according to Horner, the boss of the team himself recalls that F1 being increasingly popular, and therefore lucrative, this should not upset Red Bull unduly. .

"The sums we will receive from Liberty (commercial rights holder, editor's note) will exceed the budget ceiling this year", he also assured.

For Horner, the sporting sanction is on the other hand the "most draconian".

The team of double world champion 2021 and 2022 Verstappen escapes the worst of sanctions - withdrawal of points, downgrading, disqualification.

But it will have to count for twelve months on a reduced wind tunnel time, crucial for the development of future single-seaters.

This time is also inversely proportional to the ranking of the stables.

And as Red Bull was crowned champion 2022, it already benefits from the lowest time in the wind tunnel.

"That's between a quarter and half a second of lap time," Horner estimated.

"It will have a direct effect on next year's car."

It is nevertheless doubtful that this sanction will upset the established order, with the almost unchallenged domination of the bull stable in 2022, the year of a brand new technical regulation.

"Slap on the fingers"

In 2022, Red Bull has won 15 of the 19 Grands Prix already run (including 13 from Verstappen), leaving only four victories for Ferrari - and none for the others.

The reactions of Ferrari, like that of the former dominant Mercedes team and its seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton will be particularly scrutinized.

Last week, Hamilton, who lost the 2021 title in the controversy of the last GP in Abu Dhabi, called on the FIA ​​to preserve "the integrity of the sport".

"If they (the FIA) are flexible with these rules, then all the teams can spend millions more and only get a little slap on the wrist, which is obviously not good for the sport," he had estimated.

© 2022 AFP