Red Bull were fined $7,000,000 and a 10% CFD reduction when they were found guilty of breaching the cost cap in the 2021 season. Many prominent personalities including Lewis Hamilton have often spoken about how the punishment was much lenient for what Red Bull had done. Now Hamilton’s teammate George Russell has also commented that the punishment given to Red Bull did not fit the crime.
Leading up to the Hungarian GP, Hamilton was asked by Sky Sports F1 about his opinion regarding the punishment that should be given to teams that breach the cost cap. The reporter pointed out that there have been some rumors about a few more teams having broken the budget limit last season.
🎙️| Lewis says it is a ‘concern’ that some F1 teams could be tempted to breach the cost cap rules if the punishments are not severe enough
… I mean, I would be tempted too 😄#HungarianGP 🇭🇺pic.twitter.com/UIJt60vzX3
— Hamilton Insights (@LH44_insights) July 20, 2023
Hamilton agreed that if the punishment is not severe, teams might look to break the rules and gain an advantage. Hamilton said, “There wasn’t really a big punishment last time. There’ll be people that’ll probably go for it again and know that they’re just gonna get a slap on the wrist.” His teammate also seemed to agree with him.
George Russell was not impressed with the punishment given to Red Bull
Despite Red Bull being punished with the reduction in wind tunnel testing time and the monetary fine, they have soared to great heights in the 2023 season. The RB19 has won all of the 10 races so far this season. Quite naturally, George Russell believes that the punishment that Red Bull got was not satisfactory at all.
🎥: Mercedes’ George Russell speaks out on F1 cost cap penalties.
— F1 Naija 🇳🇬 (@f1_naija) July 20, 2023
Russell spoke to the media ahead of the Hungarian GP and said, “There were breaches last year, and clearly the punishment didn’t fit the crime. We don’t want to see that happen again.”
It is speculated that the breach in the cost cap helped Red Bull massively during the controversial 2021 season. The season finale at Abu Dhabi in itself was contentious, and the cost cap issue was the icing on the cake.
Reports of another cost cap breach have emerged again; this time, it is more than one team. Consequently, speculations about the punishment that will be given if the breaches really happened have been the hot topic of discussion in the paddock.
F1 Boss calls for harsher punishments
Earlier this week, it was reported that up to 3 teams had broken the cost cap limit for the 2022 season. This led to F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali urging the FIA to punish the offenders with sporting sanctions and not just financial punishments.
The FIA has also taken steps to ensure they can work through the finances of all the teams much faster than last time. The FIA has doubled the number of people responsible for Auditing the team’s finances. The governing body has also decided to look into the non-F1 related finances of all the teams.
F1 teams caught breaking the cost cap rules should be given sporting sanctions rather than financial penalties, says championship CEO Stefano Domenicali 🏁
Do you agree with the championship CEO? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/Y6uGxgqcIN
— Autosport (@autosport) July 19, 2023
With a guessing game going on in the paddock about who the actual offenders are, Mercedes and Ferrari have tried to get their names cleared out. Both of the teams claimed that they were having trouble developing their car due to the financial constraints set by the budget cap, signifying that they indeed followed it.
