Windsor names salary Marko: 'One of the budget cap issues at Red Bull'

After the Japanese Grand Prix, the FIA announced that Red Bull Racing had exceeded the 2021 budget cap. It is a minor offence of less than five per cent, but nothing is yet known about a penalty. Formula One journalist Peter Windsor makes a prediction on the possible penalty.

"At the moment, I think Red Bull are trying to do a deal. The amount which they’ve exceeded, the limit, will be kept confidential", Windsor begins in his new YouTube video. The Briton has spoken to several team bosses, but no one has any news on the exact amount.

The F1 expert himself has heard that it would be a breach of two million, but amounts of over seven million have also been mentioned. The costs are difficult to calculate because Red Bull did not declare certain expenses as part of the budget cap, while FIA accountants believe they should have counted. Adrian Newey's salary would be central to the discussion, but Windsor appoints consultant Helmut Marko.

Marko's salary a problem?

"I understand one of those is the salary of one Dr Helmut Marko. If I’d guess, Marko is probably in the region of four to five per annum. I think a lot of teams would imagine that should have come out of the budget cap on the basis that the three key team people would have been Adrian Newey, Christian Horner, and I guess Pierre, the technical director. There’s more than three quite well paid people there. I suppose that’s one of the issues", Windsor continues.

Windsor makes a prediction about the possible penalty that will follow for Max Verstappen's team. "If the amount is in the region of two, I think it’ll be a penalty straight away, and then there will be for sure a reduced amount of wind tunnel testing time. Then there will be an ongoing rap on the knuckles in terms of the spends over the next two to three years."