Red Bull News: Christian Horner Brands Cost Cap Wind Tunnel Penalty For 2023 "Painful"

"It certainly is a handicap"

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has spoken about what the team are having to do with the "painful" cost cap penalty.

The 2022 constructors champions were found to have exceeded the cost cap in 2021, receiving a $7 million fine and a 10% reduction in wind tunnel time for the 2023 season. 

They commanded the 2022 season with Max Verstappen taking the driver's championship win at the Japanese Grand Prix and then winning the Austin Grand Prix a week later taking the team to victory in the constructor's championship. They also won a whopping seventeen out of the twenty-two races, with Verstappen setting the record for the number of race wins in a season with fifteen. 

During a recent interview with Speedcafe's KTM Summer Grill, Horner spoke about the wind tunnel penalty and how this changes things for the team. He explained:

“Of course it’s painful.

“It forces us to be efficient and very choosy in the runs that we do. So yeah, it’s just something that we’ve got to manage.

“It certainly is a handicap rather than a benefit, so let’s see how it plays out. But we’ll be doing everything that we can to mitigate the damage that it could potentially cause.”

Talking about the cost cap regulations, Horner continued:

“I think the technical regulations and the sporting regulations are really where the main cost drivers are and the financial regulations try to capture that cost.

“That was the first year of the financial regs in ’21. Those regulations need to evolve, there’s some things in them that need to be tidied up that [are] perhaps a little too restrictive, which will stifle investment and investment in youth in the sport and even initiatives like sustainability.

“So we just need to have a sensible look at these regulations as they continue to evolve and I’m confident that the FIA and FOM will do that.”