Red Bull's Christmas Party 'doesn't count in the budget cap', jokes Helmut Marko

Helmut Marko, Advisor to the Red Bull F1 team, joked at Red Bull's expense, claiming their Christmas party doesn't count in the budget cap. The Austrian team were found to be in 'minor breach' of the 2021 cost cap, leading to hefty penalties ahead of the 2023 season.

The Milton Keynes-based squad will receive a $7 million fine and a 10% reduction in wind tunnel testing time next year for breaching the 2021 budgetary restrictions. The team, however, had an extremely successful 2022 campaign, taking both titles with relative ease. As a result, the team has been celebrating quite frequently and recently held a Christmas party in London.

Marko joked that the cost of the Christmas party doesn't count under the 2023 budget cap, putting the team well within their limits for the next year. He told Auto Motor und Sport:

“I wasn’t there at the celebration in Milton Keynes. There was a big show run with everything we have in motorsport. From rally cars to Formula 1. For Milton Keynes, Red Bull is the sporting figurehead. Then we had our Christmas party in London. It doesn’t count in the budget cap. According to our calculations, we’re well below that this year, but we want to confirm that early enough so that we don’t experience the same kind of surprises as last year.”

Red Bull unsure about how cost cap penalties will affect them in 2023

Red Bull's chief technical officer Adrian Newey is unsure how the cost cap penalties will affect the Austrian team in 2023.

They seemed to be the clear favorites heading into the 2023 F1 season, however; they were slapped with a penalty for allegedly breaking the 2021 cost cap and will now face an additional 10% reduction in wind tunnel time along with the reduced testing time for winning the constructors' title.

Adrian Newey is unsure how the penalties will impact his team's 2023 campaign but is still keeping his hopes high for the upcoming season. Newey told PlanetF1 at the 2022 Autosport awards:

“It doesn’t help, of course. It’s very difficult to know exactly how much of an effect it has. We’ve already had a bit of a penalty by winning the Constructors’ and then we’ve had this additional penalty from the cost-cut shenanigans. So how it will affect us, it’s difficult to know but we’ve just got to do the best job we can.”

Red Bull's disadvantage for next year will put Mercedes and Ferrari at the forefront, perhaps giving them the opportunity to return to the top of the sport once again.