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Christian Horner surprised as Mercedes stayed below budget cap in 2022

The Red Bull Racing team was hit hard this year in the media and the paddock for exceeding the budget cap in 2021. Christian Horner, in turn, is very surprised that the Mercedes team has remained below the budget cap this year, looking at the way in which upgrades have been carried out.

After the Japanese Grand Prix, it turned out that Red Bull Racing was indeed found guilty of exceeding the budget ceiling in 2021, although the amounts involved are relatively small, less than five percent. After the weekend in Japan, the FIA ​​started investigating what kind of punishment would be appropriate and a proposal for a penalty is said to have been on the mat at Red Bull. Red Bull, in turn, has agreed to this in Mexico and, in addition to a fine, the racing stable will also have to deal with a reduction in the wind tunnel. That concludes the stocking for this chapter.

Development Mercedes

Of course, the budget cap will also play a role again in 2022 and the ceiling will even be a bit lower than in 2021. The Mercedes team was busy this season with regard to the upgrades to the W13. At the beginning of 2022, the German racing team was nowhere to be seen at the front with their new car and they had to give in a lot of time to Red Bull Racing and Ferrari. At the end of the season, however, the Silver Arrows were short again and they even managed to win the penultimate Grand Prix of the year in Brazil with a nice one-two.

Question marks

Horner seems to have reservations about these stormy developments and he admits to being surprised with the relationship between the budget cap and the upgrades of the competition. “Below the budget cap. That’s surprising with the amount of development. We’ve had the fewest crashes and developed moderately. So it’s certainly surprising with the speed at which they’ve developed, especially in the second part of the year. But that’s F1 When you consider where they were in Bahrain compared to where they were at the end of the year, it was a big step,” said the British team boss.

Vacancy: Online F1 Editor (freelance, part- or full-time)

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