Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali says he is “more than nervous” in anticipation of last year’s budget cap findings.
A cost cap was first introduced in 2021 with the aim of reducing the spending gap between teams and making the sport more competitive in the long term.
Red Bull was found to be in breach of the cap last year, overspending by $2.2 million on their way to its Drivers’ Championship since 2013.
It was issued a fine of $7m as well as docked time allocated to development at its factory.
Final submissions of the 2022 accounts were submitted last month and are due to be reviewed by the Cost Cap Administration.
“I’m more than nervous,” Domenicali told Sky Sports.
“I’m pretty sure that everyone understands now what the effect is if there is a breach, and I totally agree that the focus on this will actually be very big.
“I think that is a point of attention mainly for the credibility and to check if everyone is respecting that rule, but [it] has to be done earlier than later.”
Rumours of Red Bull’s breach surfaced long before the FIA officially clarified the situation – a scenario that Domenicali hopes to avoid this year, if a party is guilty.
“We are discussing and this is on the FIA’s side to make sure that the control and the certification will be done much earlier because the effect, if some teams will be over it, has to be done in a proper way in as short a time as possible to be more credible.
“We see other sports that are tackling the financial regulation with, in my opinion, too long a time for a reaction – and this is not good.”
Some of Red Bull’s rivals insisted that the punishment issued to the Milton Keynes-based squad was not enough.
However, they could find themselves in hot water later this year as Red Bull believes that more than half of the grid operated over the cap in 2022.
“I think the current status is that six teams are over it,” said team advisor Dr Helmut Marko.
“Inflation is something that was not calculable to that extent, especially when it comes to energy costs.”
