Ferrari Boss Argues $135,000,000 Cost Cap Has Made Red Bull Dominant, After Criticizing the Team for Light $7,000,000 Penalty

Srijon Jana | 09/08/2023
Ferrari Boss Argues $135,000,000 Cost Cap Has Made Red Bull Dominant, After Criticizing the Team for Light $7,000,000 Penalty

Red Bull are currently in the midst of their most dominant season ever in F1, winning all 12 races so far. Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur, who had previously criticized the $7,000,000 punishment meted out to Red Bull for being too light, has a theory about why the Milton Keynes-based outfit is a step ahead of everyone else. As counter-intuitive as it may sound, the Ferrari boss believes that the cost cap is actually helping Red Bull maintain its gap to other teams.


Red Bull are currently leading the constructors championship with 503 points. Mercedes are behind them in P2 but has less than half the points Red Bull amassed. The standings do not even paint the complete picture of how dominant the RB19 has been this season.

Max Verstappen has been winning races with margins of above 30 seconds to the second-place finishers. Ferrari, Mercedes, McLaren, and Aston Martin have come close, but no team has been able to catch up with him and according to Vasseur, the cost cap is to blame for this.

The cost cap is helping Red Bull?

Frederic Vasseur recently explained why the $135,000,000 cost cap is essentially acting as a handicap for the teams trying to catch Red Bull. As per Crash.net, the Ferrari boss said, “I think that everybody is improving but the reality of the regulations and the cost gap is that we are improving much less than in the past.”

His argument is that because of the cost cap, all the teams are improving equally. However, since there is already a huge gap between Christian Horner’s team and all of their rivals, the gap is not being bridged. “When there is a gap, and a real gap, it’s quite difficult to catch up,” exclaimed Vasseur.

Then, he spoke about how various teams, including the likes of Mercedes and McLaren have managed to come near Verstappen’s RB19. However, they are all lacking when it comes to the actual race pace.

Ferrari’s development plans

Vasseur was among the many who had previously spoken out against how Red Bull had gotten away with a very light penalty for quite a serious crime. However, he recently revealed that the best way to go ahead would be to focus on one’s own team rather than looking at their rivals.

As per Vasseur, Ferrari is leaving no stone unturned in developing their car. He said, “We are developing in every single direction, we are trying to improve aero, suspension and whatever we can do.” But despite all of these improvements, catching the mighty Red Bull will not be an easy task for Ferrari.

Post Edited By: Somin Bhattacharjee
Frederic Vasseur Red Bull

About the author

Srijon Jana

Srijon Jana is a Formula 1 writer at The SportsRush. As a medical undergrad with a passion for motorsports, Srijon loves juggling between cadavers and cars with ease. He started watching F1 when he was only 11, and the beautiful cars grabbed his interest. Even now, he religiously follows all the Grands Prix, and when he is not gushing over Charles Leclerc, he likes to dabble in football as well. He is a college quizzer with several state-level and national-level accolades. He is a proud Ferrari fan, and loves to pass his free time reading, watching movies, and spending some quality time with his friends and family.

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