Red Bull cost-cap breach punishment set to be revealed on Friday

Red Bull are expected to pay a fine and undertake an enforced reduction in aerodynamic testing for breaching Formula One’s cost cap last season, with the team having announced a press conference on Friday before this weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix.

The Milton Keynes-based team, which last Sunday clinched their fifth constructors’ championship title and first since 2013 when double champion Max Verstappen won the United States Grand Prix, has reportedly agreed an ‘Accepted Breach Agreement’ with the International Motoring Federation (FIA).

Red Bull have announced they will host a news conference on Friday at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez to reveal discuss the details of the investigation and the outcome.

The team scheduled and cancelled a similar announcement last weekend in Austin where the issue was postponed following the death of Red Bull patriarch Dietrich Mateschitz.

Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf on Thursday reported an agreement had been reached, with the team’s aerodynamic testing to be reduced “lower than 25 per cent.”

Aston Martin have also reached agreement with the FIA for a penalty following their ‘procedural’ breach.

Verstappen reacted to the probable conclusion of the cost-cap controversy on Thursday, saying he felt frustrated by the affair and that the team still felt surprised by the judgement against them.

“It’s just a bit frustrating,” he said.

“From our side, we feel like we are not wrong – just some things are taken into the budget cap, which are very unexpected, but we’ll have to deal with it.

“It’s not up to me to decide what’s right.”

He added, under further questioning, that he could brush off the furore just as he had done the aftermath of the acrimonious 2021 title decider in Abu Dhabi, but he doubted if his critics could do the same.

“They are sore anyway,” he said.

“So, it doesn’t matter what you say or what you do.”