As many as six teams will exceed the 2022 budget this year

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner has warned F1 that as many as six teams are on the verge of exceeding the budget cap this year.

Red Bull Racing was recently hit with a $7 million fine and a 10 percent reduction in wind tunnel time for going $2021 million over budget in the 2.2 season. The FIA ​​found the overrun was due to a misinterpretation of which items were not included in the budget, so the team from Milton Keynes exceeded the limited funds after including the costs of catering, sick leave of employees, development and production costs of unused parts of the racing car, and above all because they did not fill in the necessary documentation correctly to refund 1.6 million dollars in taxes, which would be a budget violation of 500.000 dollars, or 0.37%.

Horner believes that the FIA's explanations have set a precedent for the future, which means we could be in for an even bigger dispute over budget overruns next season. "There is a danger that six teams will exceed the budget limit in 2022," warned Horner. "The prices of energy products are growing exponentially. Thankfully, we've protected ourselves from that, but there's a chance that quite a few teams will exceed the limit this year. I don't believe we will be among them again, but our punishments set the example for the future. If a 0.37% budget overrun results in a 10% reduction in time in the wind tunnel, what will the penalty be for a 5% budget overrun?”