This weekend sees the United States grand prix take place in Texas, but that is more of a distraction from what is happening behind the scenes. The furor over Red Bull and the budget over spend is not going to disappear as every team believes they have cheated.
THE FIA are still deliberating over the punishment as this is a serious breach and not something that can just be fined. What has come out over the last week is how they have deliberately moved Adrian Newey's salary off their books to that of a contractor.
Adrian Newey is the teams head designer and engineer and from the Red Bull record books is stated as their technical director.
Here is Wiki which has not changed their info as he is still the teams Technical Director.
The top 3 salaries (directors) have to fall inside as part of the cost cap for the team which excludes drivers salaries. Adrian Newey is the Chief Technical Director for Red Bull and not exactly a position you leave to an outside contractor. This position is the heart and soul of the team as without Adrian the team has no car.
Newey earns a reported $10 million per season and you can understand why the FIA raised some eyebrows when suddenly his salary was not part of the budget cap. This is not exactly a number you can just hide and why the other teams are not keeping quiet.
We all know how Ferrari and Mercedes feel about this but this morning Zak brown of McLaren stated the obvious by calling it cheating. There is no other way of looking at this as it is clearly cheating whatever angle you look at this. They are already over budget and if one throws in Newey's salary then you are seriously way over the budget cap.
If all the other teams did this then there is no point of having the salary cap as already that figure is heading from $145 million north of $160 million and turning the sport into a complete farce. I see no other alternative, but to deduct points from this season and last season along with a massive fine for misleading the sport. Possibly a reduced budget for the next 3 years to show that teams have to abide by the rules would also not be out of he question.
We know Williams and Aston Martin do not have their compliance certificates either at the moment along with Red Bull. Their predicament is slightly different as theirs is all regarding filling out incorrect paperwork and is a minor breach which can be resolved amicably.
What Red Bull have done is manipulated the system taking everyone for a fool thinking they can outsmart a cost cap that is going to be heavily enforced. How foolish a team can be showing no disregard for what has been put in place for good reason. This smacks of a certain amount of arrogance that will only end up with the team being harshly penalised.
I can see no easy way out for the FIA as teams will not settle for a fine in this instance and they are at a crossroads. The FIA will lose control of the sport if they drag this out any longer as a break away by the other tams would not be out of the question.
This weekend is the showdown in Texas as the FIA have to lay down the law or lose control of the sport. Red Bull taking everyone for a fool has to end and they need to face the consequences of their actions as there are now 2 championships in jeopardy and rightly so. Can Red Bull recover from this type of scandal and being an owner of an energy drink would the company want such a scandal hanging around their brand. This could be the end of the road for the Red Bull team as we know it.