Wolff: Red Bull suffered 'reputational damage' in cost cap saga

Red Bull have suffered "reputational damage" in the fallout of the Formula 1 cost cap saga, according to Toto Wolff.

The team came to terms on a deal with the FIA about an Accepted Breach Agreement for exceeding the $145 million cost cap limit imposed for the 2021 season. The breach was around $2.2 million or £1.8 million GBP.

They've also received a reduction in terms of wind tunnel time and CFD allowances having "begrudgingly" accepted the penalty, in the words of team boss Christian Horner.

However, a tax situation with UK authorities means the overspend has been reduced by £1.4 million with Red Bull officially having breached the cap by £432k.

Despite the saga now officially being settled, with the $7 million fine needing to be paid in 30 days of the breach being accepted, Wolff believes Red Bull have not come out looking good.

Wolff on cost cap

"I think what you're going to see that beyond the sporting penalty and development time is reputational damage," he explained to Sky Sports F1 post FP1 in Mexico.

"In a world of transparency and good governance, that is just not on.

"Compliance-wise, with whatever team you are, you're responsible for representing a brand, your employees and your partners.

"We cannot let costs spiral out of control.

"In American sports, in the NBA or in the NFL, they introduced a salary cap, and the teams are healthy and the sport is healthy overall.

"We have started with the cost caps, and it was tremendously important also to create a more equal balance between teams.

"We are all operating at $140 million dollars now. That means normally over time, the smaller teams can catch up. There's also the advantage of more wind tunnel time.

"Fundamentally this all that we want - more really close racing between many more competitors."

Wolff also admitted that Mercedes had built some "leeway" into their numbers for the 2021 season, and that taking an "aggressive approach" was not sensible given the new rules.