"Don't want a championship decided in law courts"- Red Bull boss Christian Horner opens up about inflationary cost problems in F1

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has fired warning shots suggesting that the ongoing F1 season may end up being decided in the courts instead of the asphalt, owing to the rising costs of inflation.

F1 put in place a strict cost cap of $140 million at the start of the 2022 season in hopes of having a more level playing field among all teams. The soaring prices of all the logistics ever since Russia's invasion of Ukraine got underway, however, has made it difficult for teams to operate under that budget.

Horner has been vocal about it for a while now and continued on the same note following Max Verstappen's win at the 2022 F1 Canadian GP. Speaking in an interview with Sky Sports F1, the 48-year-old Red Bull boss said:

“The way you design your car is within your control. That is something that you, together with your group of designers, you create. You’re in control of your own destiny. What we’re seeing in the world at the moment, we’re not in control of the inflationary costs that are affecting households around the world. In the UK, we’re seeing predicted inflation at 11 per cent. That’s a direct effect on staff, on raw materials, on electricity, on commodities, on supplied parts. I think it genuinely is a force majeure situation that the FIA need to deal with.”

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Red Bull's Christian Horner predicts seven F1 teams will miss last four races of 2022 season due to budget caps

Earlier in the season, Red Bull boss Christian Horner had predicted a grim outcome for some F1 teams. Following the 2022 F1 Spanish GP, the Briton had suggested that as many as seven outfits could miss up to four races this season if the budget cap is not amended by F1.

Speaking in an interview with Sky Sports F1, Horner said:

“Seven of the teams would probably need to miss the last four races to come within the cap this year. It’s not just about the big teams. It’s teams in the middle of the field who are really struggling with inflationary issues. The FIA has a duty of care. I know they are taking it seriously. Energy bills, costs of living, costs are going exponentially, and F1 is not exempt. Freight has quadrupled and that’s not something we can control.”

This could be true as we have already seen smaller teams like Haas F1 struggle to keep up with the cost of repairs following Mick Schumacher's huge crashes in Jeddah and Monte Carlo.

Haas boss Gunther Steiner, however, has suggested that Horner cut down on spending and not ask for additional allowances in the budget cap as that would defeat its purpose altogether.

It remains to be seen if F1 and the FIA will choose to act on this subject by making mid-season changes, like the technical directives introduced to combat the health concerns of porpoising.