The F1 world was shaken in 2007 when the Spygate scandal hit the papers. McLaren was hit by a $100 million fine and disqualification from the World Constructors’ Championship; these were huge punishments. While Costgate hasn’t hit Red Bull so badly monetarily, teams understand their performance on the track might be affected to some degree.

Vitriol-filled weeks with other teams targeting Red Bull’s alleged violation, and Red Bull in turn defending itself. The FIA took a long time to find Red Bull guilty for the cost limit breach. Red Bull signed an Accepted Breach Agreement that required them to pay $7 million to the FIA and suffer reduced abilities in wind tunnel testing for 12 months.

Mercedes’ Trackside Engineering Director, Andrew Shovlin, spoke after the Mexican GP spoke on the effect of the reduced wind tunnel testing,  “I mean, the scale of that penalty isn’t much more than what you would lose if you were just one place higher in the Championship. So it’s not as big a penalty as if your position is two places higher. So I think describing it as draconian is an exaggeration.

“Reducing the number of runs does limit your freedom when you’re developing a concept, but we’re in reasonable well-explored regulations now. You definitely have to be more efficient. But if it were half a second [the time lost from Red Bull’s wind tunnel penalty], then a team at the back of the grid would have over three seconds advantage to teams at the front. 

“I’d have thought a tenth, or a bit more than a tenth, maybe two-tenths at the upper end, is realistically what that would cost you.”

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While Shovlin contends Horner is exaggerating the penalty’s effect, it is still a considerable amount of time to lose. If 2023 sees Ferrari and Mercedes improve, the time loss could turn out to be gigantic.

Red Bull and Christian Horner think the complete opposite

Horner was never going to go down easy. Even when teams threw around allegations against Red Bull, the Briton defended the team vigorously.

Team principal Christian Horner called the penalty “draconian” and said, “We accept the penalties, begrudgingly, but we accept them.”

He also pointed out the effect it’ll have on the RB19, “The more draconian part is the sporting penalty, which is a 10 per cent reduction in our ability to utilise our wind tunnel and aerodynamic tools. I’ve heard people reporting today that it’s an insignificant amount. Let me tell you now, that is an enormous amount.”

“That represents anywhere between a quarter and half a second of a lap. That 10 per cent will have an impact on our ability to perform on track.”

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With the penalty hanging over their head, and a controversial two years behind them, Red Bull will need to work harder than they did for their previous title wins. Will they be able to defend their title? It’s going to be interesting for sure!