Red Bull budget cap deadline extended after Mateschitz death

Sam Hall
Sunday 23 October 2022 17:01

The FIA has extended Red Bull's deadline to agree to an 'accepted breach agreement' for its cost cap violation in the wake of the death of team owner Dietrich Mateschitz.

News of the 78-year-old's passing broke less than an hour before the start of qualifying at the United States Grand Prix.

To that point, the weekend had been dominated by talks of Red Bull's minor breach of the budget cap and what level of punishment the team could or should face as a result.

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The FIA made an ABA offer to Red Bull on Thursday and talks had been ongoing across the weekend with the team maintaining its innocence on the matter.

But these talks will now be paused, with Red Bull confirming the appropriate delay.

"Following the passing of Mr Mateschitz, all conversations with the FIA around Cost Cap and next steps are on hold until further notice," said a team spokesperson.

"The deadline for the agreement has been extended and we expect talks to pick back up in the middle of the week."

During a tense press conference on Saturday morning, team principal Christian Horner had reacted angrily to McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown's assertion that the team had 'cheated' by spending beyond the prescribed limit.