Christian Horner insists that Red Bull's eventual settlement with the FIA will not feature a "secret deal" once a penalty has been agreed upon. The team were found to have breached the 2021 cost cap limit of $145 million, with RacingNews365.com understanding it to be a $1.8 million overspend in four main areas. At the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Red Bull have been locked in negotiations with the FIA to try and come to a deal for the breach - an Accepted Breach Agreement - as laid out by the financial regulations. However, while Horner would not be drawn on the discussions, he did reveal that when the settlement has been reached, Red Bull will be fully transparent - hinting to the secretive manner in which Ferrari settled an engine issue with the FIA.
Horner to be open on settlement
"It's a confidential discussion between ourselves and the FIA," Horner told media, including RacingNews365.com when asked about the talks. "What I will say is that once, hopefully, this situation is concluded there will be complete transparency and I will talk you through the reasoning behind our submission. "It should be transparent, the whole thing should be transparent. "There's not going to be no private, secret deal. I think it would all be absolutely all above board - this is very different to a previous situation." Horner is making reference to the deal struck between Ferrari and the FIA in early 2020 over the Scuderia's '19 engine - which rival squads believed was breaking fuel flow rules to increase power. On the final day of 2020 pre-season testing, the deal was announced - the terms of which have been kept secret.
Brown pleased with FIA response
For his part, McLaren boss Zak Brown spoke of his happiness with the FIA throughout the process. "I think we have a lot of trust in the FIA, all we were doing was volunteering our opinion for them to take into consideration," he said of the letter he wrote to the FIA. "I think it has been a transparent process so far, and that certificates were going to be issued, then it was delayed, but they communicated it was going to be delayed. "They've communicated who's received and who hasn't received a procedural [breach]. "I don't think it's right, it shouldn't be a public hearing. "I've got a lot of confidence that it will be transparent at the end. "So I think we need to let the process play out, and only then can you really take a view on what you think of the process. "But so far, it's gone according to how they laid out what the process would be."
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