There are two sides to every coin. On one side of the coin, Red Bull celebrated their victory as Max Verstappen won his second championship title and the team won the Constructor’s Championship. But on the other side, the same F1 team was embroiled in the drama of breaching 2021’s budget cap.
As hate poured in from fans and pressure from other teams, Red Bull danced a fine line to their current success.
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From the moment the rumors of Red Bull breaching the cost cap leaked, the drama escalated and took several turns. However, a few days ago, the FIA and Red Bull finally reached an agreement regarding the penalty for their $2.2 million overspending. The Milton Keynes-based team will be fined $7 million in addition to a 10% loss of wind tunnel time going into 2023.
F1 fans around the world have not stopped booing Max Verstappen and Red Bull, though. And while some assure the gravity of the punishment, given that the team would already have less wind tunnel time as Constructor’s Champions, Red Bull fans seem oddly unbothered. Twitter threads flooded with fans showing their confidence in resident genius engineer Adrian Newey.
when you have 10% reduction in car development time but you know you've got adrian newey to lean on pic.twitter.com/o97HmDgA29
— demi | back2back champ 🦁 (@formulademi) October 28, 2022
With Adrian Newey’s bald head at their disposal, I doubt this will make much of a difference pic.twitter.com/G2Zi4I9Ord
— Mathias Gudme (@gudme123) October 28, 2022
This Adrian Newey’s biggest challenge I’ve seen in a long time, he’s gonna be pushed to his working limits https://t.co/3MVzoZDV3N
— Dan Castell (@_Dan_Castell) October 28, 2022
Im sure Adrian Newey will find a way 😎
— Sem¹ ♡ 2x WORLD CHAMPION (@Semmieee) October 28, 2022
Surely having aero genius Adrian Newey offsets 10% of wind tunnel time anyway
— F1 is Fun for Everyone (@FormulaFuntime) October 29, 2022
Adrian Newey doesn't need a wind tunnel when he already has built a new car. He can engineer his way out of it. Pluse they have Alfa Tauri to use as development for them. RB wouldn't accept anything that they wouldn't benefit from.
— XtremeBHP (@Gee_Cla) October 29, 2022
We're talking about a car that is a solid second faster than the field.
Worst case scenario, we have more battles for the lead, period, it doesn't affect them that bad, especially with the the walking cheat code Adrian Newey.— Trueblue (@Blvckviper23) October 29, 2022
That doesn’t sound like a huge deal honestly. They have Adrian Newey so he’ll come up with something easily to make up that small bit
— Justin Martinez 🇨🇦 (@TheJmart1) October 28, 2022
Newey has won 11 Constructor’s Championships with three different teams and is known for loving a challenge. Fans are sure that this penalty will only prove to be an exciting challenge for the chief technical officer.
Adrian Newey is going to beat any prediction a "cost cap panel" is going to make. 🤦♂️ Guy is an F1 car design genius!
He probably said, "10%. Okay, hold my beer." ✏️ https://t.co/J0zyt9t9Vg
— Kenny Geauvreau (@BonzoKEN) October 28, 2022
Adrian Newey the last Airbender 😉
Challenge accepted https://t.co/bpyF8eHghK pic.twitter.com/GRoliMc753— Drew collins (@Drewcollin231) October 29, 2022
Adrian Newey and Verstappen at their absolute best this year. The wind tunnel won’t make a difference next year. Looking forward to 3 more years of Hamiltons utter desperation 🥳
— Vooroorlogsverzet (@prewarverzet75) October 28, 2022
Who needs windtunnels when you have Adrian Newey and Max Verstappen? 💪💪
— Vooroorlogsverzet (@prewarverzet75) October 28, 2022
READ MORE: “Did You Overspend On This Also?”: Max Verstappen Receives Backlash for His New Golden Armor
While Red Bull fans seem sufficiently complacent with their faith in Adrian Newey, there are still plenty who consider the penalty to be a serious impediment to the team. Whether that is actually the case or not will be revealed only in 2023.
Toto Wolff thinks Red Bull will suffer more damage to its reputation than speed
While the internet remains divided over whether the FIA’s penalty was fair or not, the Mercedes team principal has something different on his mind.
According to Toto Wolff, whether the punishment itself was fair or not is of little consequence. In his view, it is Red Bull‘s reputation that will take the real hit.
“I think what you’re going to see that beyond the sporting penalty and development time is reputational damage,” he explained to Sky Sports F1 post FP1 in Mexico.
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A trip to social media will assure anyone that Toto Wolff brings up a good point. Scores of F1 fans are currently spewing hate on Max Verstappen and the Red Bull team.
“In a world of transparency and good governance, that is just not on.”
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WATCH THIS STORY: Understanding the Drama Behind Ferrari-Mercedes Budget Cap Battle Against Red Bull
However, staunch Red Bull fans stand by the team. And regardless of public opinion, the Bulls will continue to prove their worth with time.