Christian Horner has expressed his support for the cost cap in F1, despite the Red Bull team being hit with a penalty for breaching the financial regulations in 2021. It was announced in October that the Milton Keynes-based outfit would be required to pay a $7 million fine and forfeit 10 per cent of their aerodynamic development allowance for breaching the budget cap. Despite Horner stating that the punishment had already "significantly" limited the squad, he remains a supporter of the cost cap and has praised its impact on efficiency.
Impact of cost cap
"I think the principle of it is great and it's driven efficiency," Horner told RACER . "If I look at the business now, compared to where it was four or five years ago, we'd have ended up with a lot of stock of spare parts that were brand new that had never been used, and then they’re just scrap. "And so now you just can't afford to have that. You've got to be so effective and efficient. "So I think from that point of view, it has driven great efficiency into the business. It's got rid of that wastage that was there that nobody saw previously."
Horner suggests areas for improvement
However, Horner believes that there are certain aspects of the cost cap that could be improved upon. "I think that the regulations are still very immature, they're only in their second year," he continued. "So they're still evolving, and being tuned and as they're being introduced into the power unit side of the business as well – I think principally, it is a good thing for Formula 1, and it does create a more level playing field – I think there's certain elements that still need to be to be tuned. "At the moment, we're seeing a discrepancy between chassis financial regs and engine financial regs that on the chassis side, they can have a Christmas party, on the power unit side, they can't! "So there's certain things that I think need balancing up so there is a consistency across those caps. But I think on the whole, it's a very positive thing. "I think that perhaps there is still too much weight put upon them in that we're still designing very expensive engines and very expensive cars, because the technical regs drive you towards that. "And I think the technical and sporting regs, I think particularly on the chassis for 2026, we need to look more at the cost drivers which are driven through those technical regs, which will then in turn put less pressure on the budget cap itself."
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