Ferrari left furious over ‘very insignificant’ punishment to Red Bull following their budget cap breach – claiming their 10% reduced aero testing can instead be shifted to development elsewhere
- Ferrari director Laurent Mekies angry at punishment handed out to Red Bull
- Mekies describes the penalty as ‘very insignificant’ and calls for rule change
- The Italian team fear the reduced penalty could help them enhance 2023 car
Ferrari racing director Laurent Mekies is not happy with what he calls Red Bull’s ‘very insignificant’ punishment for breaching Formula 1’s 2021 cost cap.
It was announced on Friday by the FIA that Red Bull’s ‘minor’ breach of the $145million limit in Max Verstappen’s 2021 title winning campaign had seen them fined $7million and a 10 per cent reduction in their wind tunnel time over the next year.
It was a conclusion that hasn’t gone down well with Mekies and the Ferrari team, who were Red Bull’s closest challengers to Red Bull in 2022, but couldn’t stop Verstappen retaining his title and the team winning the constructors championship.
Ferrari boss Laurent Mekies is not happy with the punishment handed out to the Red Bull team
Talking to Sky Sports F1 on Saturday Mekies said: ‘I think for the sport, it’s good that the breach was clearly established by the FIA.
‘On our side, and you would probably expect it, we think the penalty is not going to be anywhere close to balance for what one could obtain from the amount of overspending we are talking about.
‘We certainly feel it is low. We don’t see it on the same scale as being able to compensate the overspend that was done.’
There was an ‘accepted breach agreement’ between Red Bull and the FIA on Wednesday, in which the team admitted coming in $2.2million over the cap after the FIA found 13 cases of costs being incorrectly adjusted.
Ferrari have concerns over the fact that they believe Red Bull will be able to use the money saved on reduced wind tunnel time to enhance and develop other elements of their car for 2023, which would make the impact of the penalty almost redundant.
Max Verstappen helped Red Bull win the constructors championship and retain his F1 title
‘More crucially, regardless of what numbers you come up with for the 10 per cent reduction in aerodynamic testing, the truth of the matter is that because it’s not combined with any budget cap reductions, they will be completely free to spend that money elsewhere, whether it be weight reductions or suspension development,’ Mekies said.
‘Therefore, it is likely that when you combine these two effects, the resulting lap-time (change) is probably going to be very insignificant.’
There was no option for the FIA to reduce Red Bull’s spending limit in 2023 as an option within the ABA, and it’s something that should be changed in the future according to the Ferrari director.
“It is not something that was available to the FIA if they were going down the route of the ABA,” Mekies said.
“This is unfortunately one of the weaknesses of the regulations that they have written, and yes, I think it probably needs to be reviewed in the future.”
