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Red Bull have issued a fresh statement on their cost cap breach with the FIA yet to formally announce their punishment. Team principal Christian Horner met with the sport’s governing body in the United States but the death of Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz has put proceedings on hold.
Star driver Max Verstappen and Horner both paid tribute to Mateschitz, who died after a serious illness aged 78 on Saturday. The announcement of his death filtered through less than one hour before qualifying got underway in Austin as the Dutchman posted the third-fastest lap time.
With Verstappen’s second world title sewn up in Japan last time out, much of Red Bull’s attention is likely to be focused off the track after the FIA found them to have breached last season’s £114million spending cap.
Conclusions stated that Red Bull were guilty of a ‘minor’ breach, which could mean anything up to a £5.7m overspend, although estimates place it at a significantly lower amount. Some have called for points to be docked from their 2021 total, although rival Mercedes boss Toto Wolff admits to that being an unlikely outcome.
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In the wake of Mateschitz’s death, BBC Sport journalist Andrew Benson relayed a statement from Red Bull declaring that talks with the FIA are ‘on hold until further notice’, adding: “The deadline for agreement has been extended and we expect talks to pick back up middle of the week.”
Fans had expected concrete news to be on the horizon after Horner met with FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem in Austin on Friday. The talks supposedly lasted for around 15 minutes between the two Friday practice sessions ahead of the United States Grand Prix.
“Yeah, I mean, it’s been hard news, I think, for everyone,” said Verstappen after qualifying third on Saturday, which was good enough for the front row due to Charles Leclerc’s grid penalty.
“I think what he has meant for Red Bull and the sport, what he has done for me and my life so far… it’s really tough. It’s a very tough day, and we tried to give everything in qualifying today. Of course, we missed out today, but we’re going to try and give him everything tomorrow.”
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