McLaren boss Zak Brown has claimed Formula One rivals Red Bull are guilty of “cheating” after being found by the FIA to have breached the 2021 cost cap.
Last week, the team were found to have spent over the £114million budget allocated for last season, in which Max Verstappen won the title. They deny any wrongdoing.
The FIA is now determining the best course of action to take against Red Bull, plus Aston Martin who were found to have breached “procedural” rules relating to the cost cap and also deny any overspend.
In a letter to F1’s governing body, Brown, 50, wrote: “The overspend breach, and possibly the procedural breaches, constitute cheating by offering a significant advantage across technical, sporting and financial regulations.”
Brown laid out his demands for punishing teams who overspend in F1, including a reduction of subsequent cost caps.
He added that no team should be “surprised” by how the rules work having had the 2020 season to adjust while claiming those in breach gained an “unfair advantage both in the current and following year's car development”.
The letter read: “We don't feel a financial penalty alone would be a suitable penalty for an overspend breach or a serious procedural breach. There clearly needs to be a sporting penalty in these instances, as determined by the FIA.
“We suggest that the overspend should be penalised by way of a reduction to the team's cost cap in the year following the ruling, and the penalty should be equal to the overspend plus a further fine - ie an overspend of $2m in 2021, which is identified in 2022, would result in a $4m deduction in 2023 ($2m to offset the overspend plus $2m fine).
“For context, $2m is [a] 25-50% upgrade to annual car-development budget and hence would have a significant positive and long-lasting benefit.
“In addition, we believe there should be minor overspend sporting penalties of a 20% reduction in CFD and wind tunnel time. These should be enforced in the following year, to mitigate against the unfair advantage the team has and will continue to benefit from.”
Standard Sport has contacted Red Bull for comment.
