F1 Insider: Red Bull's Huge Performance Isn't Down To Cost Cap Breach

Red Bull's dominance in the 2023 F1 season isn't due to a previous overspend, but their impressive team and competitor's shortcomings, according to F1 journalist Edd Straw.

F1's current season is witnessing Red Bull's relentless pursuit of yet another championship victory, with no other team currently able to bring a fight to the Milton Keynes squad. F1 reporter and analyst Edd Straw is quick to debunk the myth that this advantage stems from an alleged overspend in 2021. Instead, the remarkable performance is credited to an exceptional team and the missteps of their main competitors.

In Formula 1's maiden year under a budget cap, 2021, Red Bull breached the stipulated $145m boundary by an additional $2.2m. The excess was primarily linked to an unclaimed tax credit, with residual amounts connected to miscategorised expenses like catering. Detractors were quick to argue that, no matter the justification, Red Bull had an extra $2.2m to invest in their car development that year, resulting in their huge performance.

The financial discrepancies were only exposed late in 2022, but consequently, Red Bull's strictest penalty was enforced in the 2023 season, with a 10% reduction in their allotted wind tunnel time, plus a hefty $7m fine.

Despite these hurdles, Red Bull's dominance in this year’s championship is unmistakable. With consecutive victories in the season’s first seven races, the team has left rivals questioning the severity of their penalties and whether the team is still reaping benefits from the overspending.

“I’m not going to make excuses for them [Red Bull] breaching the cap, they were banged to rights on it,” Straw told The Race podcast. 

“The cost cap overspend was £1.8million however that was based on them declaring some tax break stuff that they shouldn’t have so as the FIA stated the effective overspend was just over 400,000. 

“Now that clearly was something they shouldn’t have done but it absolutely doesn’t add up to this advantage. 

“This advantage is earned through being a phenomenally good team and also they retain that desire to always improve. 

“They’re never resting on their laurels and getting complacent about how well they’re doing.”

While Red Bull's dominance must be celebrated, the performance deficit of other teams is only widened because of their failure in exploiting the new ground effect regulations. After all, it's only now that the likes of Mercedes are even comfortable with their W14 contender. 

While the Brackley squad are gaining, Straw doesn't believe teams such as them will be able to reach the threatening performance of the RB19 anytime soon. 

“Teams are now much better at getting the most out of their cars, there’s less fluctuation, less variables which does lead to this potential for pulverising dominance and just the problem of how long it takes to recover," he admitted.

“Mercedes has brought upgrades recently and set a new design direction but we’re talking about ‘well, start of next year they can do a new car’ and can maybe take a step, but even then I’d be surprised if Mercedes do enough to be at Red Bull level at the start of next year because you’re trying to catch up so much, while all the time Red Bull are serenely carrying on the same development path that they started on.

“Red Bull has not had to deviate or take a step back or a 90-degree right turn, because every time you have to do that the teams are not doing that to gain an advantage. It’s the same with Ferrari, a bit of a shift with direction, that will take time to exploit and that’s one of the other things teams have failed to do.

“Not only have they let Red Bull dominate but [they’ve let it happen] in this year where Red Bull has an ATR disadvantage.

“The rivals are making that whole equation really easy for Red Bull to manage because they’re going to win this season quite easily.

"The pressure is taken off them and it becomes a virtuous circle for Red Bull.”

With Red Bull heading the 2023 Constructors’ Championship with a remarkable 287 points, a comfortable 135-point lead ahead of Mercedes, Straw's prediction appears to be right on the mark so far.