'Red Bull spends twice as much as the budget cap in 2019 and now has to clean up'

From 2021 onwards, Formula 1 teams will have to comply with the budget cap. This budget cap amounts to USD 145 million, which translates into some EUR 123 million. Red Bull Racing's new figures for the 2019 financial year, which have come into the hands of Motorsport.com, show that Red Bull still has some way to go towards 2021.

Is Red Bull ready for the budget cap?

In 2019 Red Bull will have spent €261.2 million as a team. That is 2.5 million less than in 2018, when the team mainly had to pay a lot to Renault. The rising cost items have finally fallen after years. As a Honda factory team, Red Bull has to pay less.

Of course, there are still a few exceptions to the budget cap. For example, the top staff and drivers do not fall under this budget cap, but even then the gap to the budget cap is EUR 138 million. Red Bull is therefore still spending more than double what is allowed under the budget cap in 2021.

Red Bull Technology

However, in addition to the Formula 1 team, there is another noteworthy point. Red Bull Technology is not considered to be Red Bull's Formula 1 team, but it does seem to be a cost of the Formula 1 team. While Red Bull Technology has 966 employees on its payroll, there are only 59 people on paper under the Red Bull Racing Formula 1 team.

Red Bull Technology is still seen as the supplier of both AlphaTauri and Red Bull Racing, but wherein 2019 and 2020 it will still be able to move freely with its resources, this will have to be communicated much more clearly to Formula 1 from 2021 onwards. A lot of money is going out now, but it is difficult to tell from these figures to what extent the company is already ready for the budget cap.