One of the most successful seasons in the team’s history, and one of the best cars they’ve ever produced (or for that fact, anyone’s ever produced). A number of records were broken. 2022 has been a season to remember for Christian Horner and Red Bull; until, of course, the cost cap saga broke out. 

The cost cap saga has been one of the most controversial incidents in F1 in decades. Regulations mandating maintaining spending limits were introduced by the FIA in 2020, with 2021 being the first season where they would be implemented. And Red Bull turned out to be one of the first offenders of the new rules. After months of name-calling by teams, and investigation by the FIA, the saga finally came to an end.

It was decided that Red Bull was guilty of the charges, and was asked to pay $7 million in fine and a reduced ability to conduct wind tunnel testing for 12 months. While Red Bull did end up signing an Accepted Breach Agreement for the violation, they still haven’t given up on finding the ‘leak’.

Christian Horner said “The accusations made in Singapore were extremely upsetting for every single member of staff, all our partners, everyone involved within Red Bull. Obviously, any form of leakage is hugely worrying. It’s something we expect to be followed up.” Helmut Marko echoed that sentiment and said “It cannot be that two teams with detailed knowledge went public before we were informed.”

But according to Toto Wolff, the ‘leak’ came from within the team rather than from outside. “The leak did not come from the FIA, but there are 10 finance directors who sit together all year and find out who did what. There was a violation, it doesn’t really matter how it came about. Violation is violation. Who talked about it? I think it was the finance directors.”

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Without a doubt, the breach of the spending limits deserved a strong penalty. But to have information leaking from the FIA is equally egregious, if not more. It might be an attempt from Red Bull to divert attention, as Wolff believes, but it still deserves going into from the FIA.

Red Bull also had to deal with these tragic circumstances

While Red Bull have been celebrating their victories in the WDC and the WCC, they have had to cop a number of blows from different directions. The first was obviously the cost cap saga and its financial and sporting implications. But other than that, they also suffered the loss of a father figure for the team – Dietrich Mateschitz.

Mateschitz, aged 78, passed away recently before the team was able to clinch the WCC in Austin. Fittingly, the team dedicated the trophy to the Austrian, who was responsible for the birth as well as the development of the team. During Mateschitz’s reign, the team was run under a single CEO system, where Mateschitz was responsible solely.

Now that responsibility has been diversified to 3 separate people. The team will now be run by the “dream team” – Franz Watzlawick, Alexander Kirchmayr, and Oliver Mintzlaff. The 3 executives were handpicked by Mateschitz and have vast years of experience. Most of all, Mitnzlaff is no stranger to managing successful sports teams, having last been in charge of the German soccer team, RB Leipzig.

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The passing of Dietrich Mateschitz was definitely the end of an era. As we enter a new era, the team has been handed over to very able hands. For fans, they’ll be looking out for more wins and championships from the dream team.