L'Equipe on budget cap: 'Red Bull are among three teams in danger'

Rumours have been circulating in recent days that three teams in Formula 1 may have exceeded their 2022 budget cap. Seven teams seem to have already had agreement from the FIA on their annual reports, but more investigations are needed from the other three race teams at the very least. According to L'Equipe, Aston Martin, Mercedes, and Red Bull need to submit additional information.

In the British media in recent days, Aston Martin, Alpine and Mercedes were mentioned as possible violators of the budget cap last season. On Sunday, France's L'Equipe claimed otherwise. They claim Aston Martin and Mercedes are in the 'danger zone'. But: the third team would be Red Bull and not the French Alpine.

Questions regarding Marko's role

The sports newspaper states that Aston Martin are 'in more trouble' than Mercedes and Red Bull. Why this is, hasn't been explained. Furthermore, they write that Formula 1 teams have asked for clarification on the exact qualification within Helmut Marko's situation at Red Bull. 'Marko attends all races in the Red Bull pit box, yet he is not among the three top managers whose salaries are excluded from the $136 million.'

Since 2022, Marko has not officially been in charge of Red Bull's junior programme. Guillaume Rocquelin is his successor on paper, although the 80-year-old Austrian obviously still has a big finger in the pie. Because Marko, despite still holding a very important position within the Milton Keynes-based team, is not among the three highest-paid employees, his (possibly generous) salary would thus be included in the $136 million. Of course, it could be that Red Bull have a perfectly good explanation for this, but at least some competitors have inquired with the FIA about exactly how this works.

FIA still have some way to go

It is unclear when the FIA will go public with their findings. "In light of recent reporting, we’d like to reiterate the ongoing process preceding financial regulation certification for the teams - none of which have been informed of their certification status," an FIA spokesperson said. So, despite the rumours, the teams do not yet know whether they are 'safe'.

"The auditing fieldwork is still ongoing and is scheduled to conclude in the upcoming weeks, after which there will be a period required for the finalisation of the review. There is not, and has never been, a specific deadline for certification, and any suggestions of delays to this process or potential breaches are completely unfounded – the Cost Cap Administration will formally communicate its findings according to the procedure set out in the Financial Regulations. The timeframe is intentionally not fixed in order not to prejudice the robustness and the effectiveness of the review."

Horner is not worried

In the interview after Max Verstappen won the Hungarian Grand Prix, Christian Horner hinted to Sky Sports that they are confident Red Bull have stayed under the budget cap in 2022.

"Last year, Max damaged one front wing, and Checo crashed at Monaco. We had limited development so we were several million below the cap last year because of accident damage and development they are huge costs. This year the biggest handicap is the wind tunnel time, it’s significantly less, so we have to be disciplined. Everyone, every day of the week, is talking about budget cap," said the British team boss.