Did Red Bull make the right choices? 'Relative to our opposition, yes'

The introduction of the budget cap has changed a lot in the way Formula 1 teams approach development. So says Paul Monaghan, Red Bull Racing's chief engineer.

The cost cap was introduced to bring the field closer together and has proved to be particularly challenging for the top teams. Although there is still a gap to bridge to Red Bull Racing, Ferrari, Mercedes, the expectation is that the sport will become more competitive in the long run.

According to Monaghan, the introduction of the budget cap has changed the approach to development. Whereas Red Bull used to be able to make bigger changes, the team now has to spread smaller updates over the season. Speaking to Motorsport.com he admitted that his team was previously in a "privileged position".

According to Monaghan, the budget cap cuts both ways. On the one hand, it deprives Red Bull of the opportunity to get ahead of other teams in terms of performance, but so does the competition. For everyone else, the cars need to be developed more carefully than before.

Red Bull made the right choices

The 55-year-old Brit, who has been with the team since Red Bull Racing's inception in 2005, acknowledged that the RB18 could possibly have performed even slightly better if all the desired updates had been implemented. However, he points to a more important question: "Did we make the right parts rather than the less valuable parts to keep our development rate going? Relative to our opposition, you would think the answer is yes."

The new financial regulations were introduced for the 2021 F1 season and limited teams to an annual budget of $145 million. This was initially to decrease by $5 million a year, but additional measures were introduced for 2022 and 2023 to account for rising inflation.