mwillems wrote: ↑21 Oct 2022, 18:22
I just listened to an interview on Sky Sports. It talks about how the numbers around the Cafeteria, Redundancy pay and the Sick pay may put a different perspective on this for Red Bull, inferring it makes it look like it is a bit harsh. But I don't get that because didn't everyone have the same costs and accounting? Naturally if you feel you have a bit more to spend in a championship going to the wire, that extra to spend will go to in season and next season car performance...? The reality is they didn't have that money to spend and benefitted from it, irrespective of whether they intended to or not.
I don't consider this a good source, but it tries to break it down some.
https://racingnews365.com/red-bulls-f1- ... main-areas
Red Bull cost cap breach
Red Bull were initially well within the cost cap figure of $145 million by about $4 million before multiple factors combined to push them $1.8 million over, according to RacingNews365.com's sources.
These included
Internal costs related to gardening leave and sick pay - $800k
Catering costs - $1.2 million
The other areas that pushed the team over the cap included the use of spare parts and a tax situation with UK authorities which meant the team went from $4 million under to $1.8 million over - a swing of about $5.8 million it is understood.
The internal costs are said to involve former head of aerodynamics Dan Fallows, who resigned in mid-2021 to take up the technical director job at Aston Martin, according to RacingNews365.com's source.
As is normal in cases of personnel moving between teams, he went on a period of gardening leave, although the well-placed source understands that Fallows was moved across to the Red Bull Advanced Technologies branch of the business - away from the racing entity.
Red Bull Racing did not factor Fallows into their calculations it is believed, while the FIA did.
The rest of the costs were allocated to standard sick pay for team personnel.
RacingNews365.com also understands that a chunk of the overspend was caused by spare parts and a rules re-classification on them.
Parts designed for the 2021-spec of cars that could not be carried over to the new breed were previously exempt, but in June of this year, the rule was changed so these parts were included in the budget total.
The catering costs added up to $1.2 million of the total overspend, with other minor expenses pushing the total towards the cap limit.
The largest chunk of the overspend is believed by RacingNews365.com to relate to potential tax credits and reimbursements from the United Kingdom tax authorities - His Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC).
Known as Research and Development Expenditure Credit (RDEC), it can be claimed by contractors who have been hired by a larger firm for R&D work and have either received a grant or subsidy or the expenditure is greater than an aid cap on the scheme.
Calculated at 13% of qualifying R&D expenditure, some of the credit is able to be used to get rid of some tax liabilities.
Red Bull are believed to have expected a rebate from HMRC, but this did not materialise, adding the $1.4 million to the budget for the year.
However, RacingNews365.com understands that the situation is fluid and if Red Bull are able to prove they were expecting some sort of rebate from HMRC, the FIA will look leniently on this figure.
