After a significant incident at the Imola Grand Prix, Max Verstappen has expressed his reservations regarding Red Bull’s budget cap limit.
Oscar Piastri of McLaren defeated the four-time world champion, who was vying for pole position at the Emilia-Romagna GP on Saturday. The two drivers shared the front row of the grid for lights out in Italy.
At the start of Sunday’s race, Verstappen pulled off a scarcely believable overtake on the first lap to stun Piastri, and the Dutchman went on to claim the race victory.
Verstappen’s team-mate, however, suffered a huge shunt in qualifying, with Yuki Tsunoda spinning, causing his Red Bull car to flip upside down, before hitting the barriers.
The incident immediately brought out a red flag, and Tsunoda was seen walking out of the car whilst also being given the all-clear after precautionary checks in the medical centre.
Tsunoda’s Red Bull was destroyed on the right-hand side, and Verstappen has voiced his concerns over the impact the crash will have on the cost cap for the team.
“That was a big hit. The most important thing is that he’s okay,” he told the media including GPFans.
“But it’s a lot of damage. Not ideal with the budget cap, but that’s how it goes.”
What is Formula 1’s cost cap?
F1’s cost cap was first implemented in 2021, and limits the amount of money a team can spend on its cars over the course of a season.
The cap was introduced to prevent teams with larger budgets from consistently out-pacing smaller teams, in an attempt to level the playing field and emphasise sustainability.
Expenditure under the cost cap includes all parts of the car, the team personnel and garage equipment, all of which would have been stretched following Tsunoda’s crash at Imola and creating further expense for the team to fix his Red Bull in time for Sunday’s grand prix.
Red Bull was among the first teams to be found in a “minor” violation of the rule following the 2021 season. F1’s current cost cap is set at $140.4 million (£106 million) for 2025.
Due to the infraction, the team was fined $7 million and had their aero testing reduced by 10% for the 2023 season. Since then, they have conformed with the expense cap.
