At the saddest weekend in Red Bull’s history as a company, Max Verstappen The cartoon that made it popular on TV opened its wings to pay homage to the energy drink Dietrich Mateschitz, founder of the empire, who passed away on Saturday night, before the timed session of the United States Grand Prix. In Austin, two weeks after becoming a two-time champion at Suzuka, Verstappen took his 13th victory on the course. Allows Michael Schumacher (2004) and Sebastian Vettel (2013) to equal his record, the most productive ever in the same year. Moreover, this is the eighth consecutive victory for the reference team, giving it the title of founders.

Second-place reaction rate on the grid crazy Max was slightly higher than that Author of the book Carlos Sainz poleThe one who could do nothing to prevent the Dutchman from overtaking him when he reached the first corner and exposing him to the peloton. The most infamous of them all was George Russell, who nailed the brakes of his Mercedes before he could avoid wearing the Spaniards. Despite rejoining the track after the spin, the Madrid man has added his seventh dropout to date. With the road completely empty, Verstappen went for a walk on the Americas Track until his unit made the first mistake in the workshops, on the second tire change. Despite this, the Hasselt boy’s greed and the speed of his car allowed him to correct the mistake and pass Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc on the track, who finished the podium with him. Fernando Alonso, on the other hand, managed to cross the finish line in seventh place, despite a spectacular crash when he was thrown from behind by Lance Stroll’s future partner Aston Martin.

Red Bull landed in Texas and left, not knowing what to expect after being found guilty of exceeding the 145m-euro budget cap set last season, doubting whether it would be cut in the same way. (about 130 million euros at that time). After an audit, the International Automobile Federation (FIA) Cost Limitation Administration determined that the team from Milton Keynes (England) had made a mistake that was considered “minor” by exceeding the set ceiling, but by less than 5%. . Although the figures have not been made public, it is estimated that the amount that broke the regulatory barrier did not reach two million euros. Apparently, some of this money comes from items such as services of services, for example. Catering or spare parts not included in single seats.

The decision the FIA ​​has to make public is taking longer than expected, and given the importance of the issue and the transparency it requires, this is not the best indicator. This weekend, Red Bull boss Christian Horner met with FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem to discuss the issue, which at this point can be resolved in two ways. If they admit their guilt, the punishment will be much less than they would face if they did not admit it and appealed. The dispute should have been resolved by now, but Mateschitz’s death caused talks to be delayed for several days.

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