Lewis Hamilton demands equal scrutiny against Red Bull for breaching the cost cap as much as FIA fined him and Mercedes.
With FIA’s judgement against Red Bull heading near, Lewis Hamilton has brought his claws out against his rivals for allegedly breaching the cost cap.
In their last update, the FIA found Red Bull guilty of a minor breach. However, the Milton-Keynes-based team claimed that they didn’t gain a performative advantage from it. Instead, most of their overspending went to catering and confusion in dealing with sick leave pay.
It’s quite funny in a way, how the budget cap story has developed. Red Bull were confirmed to have broken the budget cap. Stories then emerged of a catering/sick leave cause, then Adrian Newey as a consultant labeled as a potential cause, and now Dan Fallows (gardening leave).
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But Hamilton wants Red Bull to bear the consequences no matter where the money is spent. He believes that if the rules can’t be implied properly, they should be dropped.
Also read: Lewis Hamilton coaches $35 billion company’s CEO on how to drive around COTA
Lewis Hamilton wants equal strictness with Red Bull
Hamilton, ahead of the US Grand Prix, has compared his jewellery ban fine of $25,000 and Mercedes Flexi wing fine of $50,000 with Red Bull’s breach. If FIA can act so severely against these two violations, he demands equal strictness over here too.
“We got a 25k fine for me having this nose ring in and a 50k fine for having that wing and put to dead last in the race, so I’m hopeful, I truly believe that I have to have belief in the FIA and the people that are leading this team, that they are going to make the right decision,” said Hamilton.
With this, Hamilton claims he doesn’t want to put much more of his energy into this controversy. Instead, he now wants to focus on the race in COTA, where he aims to win.
Will Mercedes cheat?
The Mercedes outfit is not ready to be easy on Red Bull. Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has openly claimed that if their rivals aren’t punished accordingly and only monetarily, then a precedent will be set that teams can get away by paying extra for cost cap breaches.
Then he will not stop himself from gaining an advantage by spending extra at the cost of a fine. Meanwhile, other teams have also weighed in on Wolff’s assertive words to the FIA.
Other teams think violating the cost cap and going free harms the law’s purpose. Thus, they advocate harsh punishment on the 2022 table leaders.
