"Catering has gotten expensive" - Fans react as FIA finds Red Bull guilty of breaching F1 cost cap

Red Bull were found to have exceeded the 2021 F1 cost cap in a report released by the FIA. The governing body reported that the team were found to have committed a Procedural Breach and a Minor Financial Overspend, less than 5% of the Cost Cap. The report was based on submissions made by the team and that no formal investigation had taken place.

Fans trolled Red Bull on Twitter and some called for harsh punishments for the breach of regulations. Some of the best tweets were:

"Catering has gotten expensive"

"Minor breach? Does that even make sense? Illegal is illegal. Simple. If that minor breach, "majorly" contributed in designing or upgrading a cars components which influenced performance, how will they know? There should be 1 clear line in this regulation"

"So you can breach the cap of 145 million by 5%. For billion dollar corporations that's nothing and they can take the fine. What precedent does it set that Red bull will get away with a fine??? Basically means every team will over spend by 4.9% and eat the fine they get"

"Breaching the Cost Cap no matter how big or small should be punished harshly, as your gaining an unfair advantage over the other teams being complient with the rules"

Some fans went on to demand Max Verstappen be stripped of his 2021 world championship and runner-up Lewis Hamilton be crowned the champion. Hamilton lost the championship in the last race in Abu Dhabi in controversial fashion and this report has resparked the debate around the validity of the championship. Some of the tweets were:

"In other words Hamilton is an 8 time world champion"

"Lewis Hamilton true champion of 2021"

"give lewis '21 title and charles '22 title in my honest and unbiased opinion"

"Do what’s right and punish them. Be ruthless. Plenty of teams have sacrificed a lot to be under the limit. F1 is already damaged from the robbery in AD ’21 so don’t make it more damaged."

The FIA also announced that punishments for the teams who breached the cost cap will be announced later. Red Bull denied the findings of the report and claimed that they had made sure the submission had been below the cost cap of $145 million. Red Bull have announced that they will be reviewing the FIA's findings to try and clear their name.

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Red Bull and Max Verstappen win second world championship amid controversy

Max Verstappen won his second world championship at the 2022 F1 Japanese GP. The race was red flagged after the first lap when multiple crashes in the rain led to cars being stranded on the track. After multiple delays in restarting the race due to poor weather conditions, Verstappen won decisively and won the championship.

Charles Leclerc, who originally finished second, was given a five-second penalty for cutting a corner post-race and this enabled Verstappen to lead the championship by 113 points with only 112 available. Sergio Perez moved into second in the championship after Leclerc's penalty saw the Mexican promoted to second in the race.

Initially, there was confusion regarding the points awarded since the race did not run the full distance, but the FIA clarified that the full points were awarded since the race was completed and not suspended under the red flag. Verstappen celebrated his second world championship win with his whole family, which he had invited over to Japan.

The youngster became just the eleventh driver to win the championship back to back. Red Bull will now be looking to win the Constructors Championship with four races to go. And with a lead of 165 points to Ferrari, it is a matter of when and not who.