Red Bull budget cap sanction drives "extra motivation" - Verstappen

Ewan Gale
Friday 11 November 2022 12:16

Max Verstappen is confident Red Bull will draw "extra motivation" from the budget cap sanction handed down by the FIA.

The Milton Keynes-based team was found to have committed a minor breach of the financial regulations, exceeding the permitted $145million cap last season.

This was despite a prolonged denial from team principal Christian Horner, who insisted there was no wrongdoing from Red Bull's side of the audit.

However, having taken an 'accepted breach agreement' from the FIA, Red Bull was hit with a $7million fine and a 10 per cent reduction in aerodynamic testing time, leaving it some 12 per cent shy of the time afforded to the runner-up this season.

The consensus from rival teams is that whilst the penalty may not be as strong as had been hoped, the sport must move on from the past and look ahead to the future.

Assessing the penalty, two-time champion Verstappen said: "It will affect us but how much? I don't know yet.

"But I'm confident that the team and the people we have can use that as extra motivation to try and do even better.

"I know, of course, they always give their best.

"But we have a very competitive car, we have a lot of great ideas, I think already for next year as well with the car and hopefully it's going to be enough."