Ted Kravitz reveals when cost cap penalty will finally start to ‘bite’ Red Bull
Red Bull design guru Adrian Newey inspecting the RB19 with his notebook in hand.
For anyone questioning Red Bull’s dominance in the face of their 2021 budget cap penalty, Ted Kravitz says it will “bite” but only at the end of this season and when it comes to 2024’s RB20.
Late last year Red Bull were hit with a 10 percent reduction in their Aerodynamic Testing Restriction time as well as a $7m fine for having overspent on their way to the 2021 World title.
It was a penalty that team boss Christian Horner called “draconian” and yet it seems to have had absolutely no impact on the team’s performances this season with Red Bull having won all seven races and with Max Verstappen also starting number eight, the Canadian Grand Prix, from pole position.
Holding down the 1-2 in the Drivers’ Championship, the team leads the Constructors’ by 135 points as they chase a second successive double.
It had Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur saying earlier this year that clearly the penalty was “very light”.
Red Bull, though, insist the time will come when the reduced ATR time hits them, but as Kravitz said, it won’t before they win this year’s double.
Speaking about the RB19 and its impressive floor, the Sky Sports presenter said: “It’s clear to me now why the upper surfaces, the sidepods and all the rest of it of the RB19 look more or less the same as the RB18, it’s that Adrian Newey, Pierre Wache and all of the people at Red Bull spent all their time over the winter on that floor.
“And if you’re thinking about ‘Hang on, what about cost cap aerodynamic testing restrictions, a penalty when is that going to come in?’
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“Well, Pierre Wache, the technical director, had an answer for me for that on Thursday, when he said the end of the season that cut in aerodynamic testing is going to have an effect, and crucially it’s going to have effect on next year’s RB20 as well.
“I thought that was really, really interesting.
“So if you’re thinking that ‘Hang on I thought with the accepted breach of agreement of last year’s cost cap how come they’ve got the best car?’
“It is going to bite Red Bull, just not yet and certainly not before they win this year’s World Championship, which they deserve to because they’ve got a great car and Max Verstappen is driving brilliantly etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.”
