The breach of Red Bull's budget limit has been one of F1's main talking points in recent weeks, with the FIA insisting on keeping the details of Red Bull's fine secret.
See the original article for embedded media.
Following an FIA analysis (which concluded that Red Bull was overreacting in 2021), Red Bull issued a statement strongly rejecting the idea that it had exceeded its budget limit.
The Austrian national team also hinted that legal action could be taken, and insisted that the team is ready to explore all available options.
However, Red Bull eventually admitted that they exceeded last season's budget cap and agreed to a $7 million fine for next season and a 10% reduction in time spent in the wind tunnel.
As the 2022 champions, Red Bull will have less time in the wind tunnel than any other F1 team, and an FIA penalty will make that shortfall even worse.
The FIA confirmed that Red Bull's total financial excess of the budget limit was $2.2 million. It should be noted that there are inconsistencies in the application of taxes.
If taxes were properly implemented, Red Bull's budget surplus would be $0.5 million.
The tacit agreement between the FIA and Red Bull states:
Red Bull Racing was found to be ineligible. However, the Fee Limit Administration has accepted the following:
"Red Bull Racing has cooperated during the review.
© Provided by F1Briefings on FanNation
"He has tried to provide additional information and evidence in a timely manner when requested.
“[And] that this is the first year of full implementation of the Financial Regulations.
"There are no allegations or evidence that Red Bull Racing at any time attempted to act dishonestly, dishonestly or fraudulently and did not knowingly withhold any information from Cost Cap management."
This penalty sets a precedent for how teams will be punished for exceeding budget limits in the future and will help determine the extent to which F1 teams will meet these limits.
The FIA has confirmed that Red Bull have been sanctioned both sportingly and financially, but it remains to be seen how useful these sanctions will become.
The $7 million fine is insignificant for a financial powerhouse like Red Bull, so the question now is how much wind tunnel time reduction will affect the team in 2023.