According to the World Motor Sport Association, Red Bull has exceeded the budget limits, and proceedings against the team of double world champion Max Verstappen are ongoing. Prominent drivers are demanding a harsh penalty.
Lewis Hamilton does not want to deal too much with Red Bull’s penalty for not meeting the cost limit. The seven-time Formula 1 world champion lost the world championship fight against Max Verstappen last year. According to an investigation report by the regulatory authority, his Red Bull team spent more money than was allowed during the season. “I’m working on the things I can control,” Hamilton said in the Austin paddock on Thursday. Before the US Grand Prix, however, he also pointed out the integrity of the sport.
“When we talk about integrity, it’s about how we navigate core values,” Hamilton said. He must believe that the President of the international automobile association Fia, Mohammed bin Sulayem, and his team would make the right decision. “If you take it easy on yourself, all teams will go overboard and spend millions (too much),” emphasized the now 37-year-old British Mercedes superstar. “If that’s just a slap on the hand, it’s not good for the sport. It could just as well be that there will be no cost cap in the future.”
The Fia recently announced that Red Bull “slightly exceeded” the cost limit of 148.6 million US dollars last year and, like Aston Martin, had violated the procedural rules. The Fia has not yet imposed a penalty. Those responsible at Red Bull had received the Fia report with “surprise and disappointment”. “We think we’re in line (with the rules),” Mexican Red Bull driver Sergio Perez reiterated on Thursday.
“We know what one, two, three million in development can do. I just hope that if there is a penalty, it takes away the incentive to spend more than is allowed,” stressed Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz. It was reported that the overrun could have been as much as $2 million, a sum that Hamilton said would have been enough to outfit a car with significant performance upgrades in 2021. “I hope there is a strict and harsh punishment. A punishment that really hurts you,” said Valtteri Bottas. The current Alfa Romeo driver drove alongside Hamilton for Mercedes last year.
The FIA ??are understood to have proposed to Red Bull the terms of an ‘accepted breach of contract’. If this agreement is accepted, the process would be closed. The penalties would then be limited to a comparatively mild financial sanction. A painful reduction in restrictions on future budgets or testing capacities would be off the table, as would point deductions for drivers or teams – which would mean that last year’s championship could no longer be undone.
