Zak Brown, boss of McLaren, has written a letter to the FIA asking for “penalties for cheating” after the affair of the authorized budget overrun.
It’s still not over. While Max Verstappen is already Formula 1 world champion this season, Red Bull is attracting discussion, but not for the prowess of the Dutch driver. The Austrian team, which has exceeded the authorized budget ceiling for the year, is at the heart of a controversy. While the FIA had judged this offense as “ minor “, the financial contribution being less than 5%, Zak Brown, the boss of McLaren, does not hear it that way.
« Exceeding expenses, and possibly breaches of procedure, constitute cheating by offering a significant advantage over technical, sporting and financial regulations he reportedly wrote in a letter sent to the FIA, according to BBC Sport.
Financial and sports sanction
In this letter, Zak Brown asks for an exemplary study of the file, judging that a purely financial sanction was not sufficient.
« In the end, any team that overspent gained an unfair advantage in both the development of the current year’s car and the following year.»
« We do not believe that a financial penalty alone would be an appropriate penalty for an overspending violation or a serious breach of procedure. There must clearly be a sporting sanction in these cases, as determined by the FIA.»
A change in the rules
To fight against this phenomenon, the boss of McLaren even proposes to apply new rules.
« To prevent teams from accumulating and benefiting from the multiplier effect of several minor overruns, we suggest that a second minor overrun automatically moves the team to a major overrun. »
« Finally, given the finances involved, a 5% threshold for a minor overspend seems far too big a gap. We suggest that a lower threshold, 2.5%, is more appropriate.»