FIA: 'No investigation into Perez, Red Bull investigation took too long'

FIA president Mohamed Ben Sulayem says the governing body intends to make changes to prevent the procedure surrounding the budget cap from taking so long again, as was the case with Red Bull Racing. Ben Sulayem acknowledges that the investigation has taken too long.

The FIA recently announced that Red Bull Racing had exceeded the 2021 budget cap. Red Bull, which overspent by 1.6 per cent, was fined seven million dollars and will be allowed to conduct 10 per cent fewer aerodynamic tests in the wind tunnel for 12 months. However, it took a particularly long time for the governing body to reach that verdict.

FIA acknowledges too slow investigation into Red Bull

Part of the reason why the FIA took so long was that last year was the first Formula 1 season where the budget cap was in place. Ben Sulayem is confident the FIA can speed up the process next year. "The only thing I would say is that what we did in September or October should have been done earlier," he explains, according to ESPN. "As it was the first year, we learned from it and we are still learning. It's better to do it in May and not just in October to do it."

The FIA president believes the governing body made the right decisions, but did announce a "big review" to avoid another controversy. He stresses that the most important thing is to learn from it.

FIA will not investigate Perez

Meanwhile, Ben Sulayem at Autosport.com indicating that the FIA is not going to investigate Sergio Perez's crash, intentional or not, in Monaco. However, the FIA president does stress the possibility of filing a complaint, upon which the governing body will look into the matter. However, that is not expected to happen.