The FIA announced last week that Red Bull was deemed to have exceeded the budget cap of $145 million last year, which the team strongly denied.
The FIA’s financial audit findings claimed that Red Bull incurred a minor overspending, which is within 5% of the budget cap, or $7.2 million.
Talks are currently underway between Red Bull and the FIA over a possible accepted breach agreement, but other teams and drivers have been clear in their calls for strict action.
Steiner said he had “no idea” what penalty Red Bull might face, but felt tweaks were needed to move the financial rules forward, including a reduction in what is considered a penalty. minor infraction.
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“It should be smaller, in my opinion, thinking about it now,” Steiner said.
“I now call it a $140 million budget cap, 5% is seven million. But within the $140 million you have certain expenses that you can’t change.
“So that spending isn’t seven million on development — that spending, 5% on development, that’s a bigger number. The percentage is the same, but it makes a bigger difference.
“I think we’ll have to rethink that one when drafting the next Concorde deal.”
Antonio Giovinazzi, Haas VF-22, comes out of the garage
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
The 2021 season marked the first year teams had to comply with the financial regulations, but they were asked to do a voluntary audit in 2020 to prepare for the introduction of the budget cap the following year.
Steiner said it was “difficult to comply” even for Haas during the voluntary audit given the complexity of the rules, saying the FIA was “very, very strict about it”.
“There’s no more wiggle room in how they present their stuff, you gotta do a good job,” he said.
“It’s not just the financiers, it’s the people on the car like with the car parts you use and all that data. It’s hard work to put all of that in order, so it’s not a easy task.
Although the FIA has outlined potential penalties for teams committing a minor budget cap breach, if an accepted breach agreement is reached there can be no loss of constructors’ championship points, drivers’ championship points or a reduction in the cost cap. .
Steiner called this a “weakness” in financial regulation that needed to be learned from in the future.
“All of these things are a first time,” he said. “If it was clear, we wouldn’t be here speculating on what has been done.
“Going into this, getting a cost cap, you have to respect how we pushed ourselves to have one. Now we just have to improve them. It will come with time.
“There are a lot of things that maybe we need to improve. Not change, but do better – which includes change, of course.
