F1 News: McLaren Boss Furious With Red Bull Punishment - "the Penalty Doesn't Fit The Breach"
It was announced on Friday that Red Bull would be punished with a $7million fine and a 10% reduction in wind tunnel time after breaching the cost cap of the 2021 F1 season. This was agreed by by Red Bull, who later described this punishment as being "enormous". But McLaren boss Andreas Seidl doesn't feel it's enough.
The team principal believes that Red Bull should have received a larger punishment, and hopes that if it happens again, the FIA would take a firmer stand.
Asked by Ted Kravitz is he listened to the new conference in which Red Bull chief Christian Horner talked about the punishment, he was obviously annoyed with the outcome when he responded:
“No, I didn’t listen to it because I can imagine it was another fairytale hour, probably. Not really interested in that.
“In the end, on a positive side I think it’s good to see the FIA did a good job in terms of doing the audit. Nine teams got it right and it was clear one team was in breach, so that’s a positive outcome.
“But on a negative side, it’s also clear, from my point of view, that the penalty doesn’t fit the breach. I just hope moving forward we have stricter penalties in place.”
Zak Brown, McLaren CEO, has also spoken out about this punishment, writing a letter to the FIA before the outcome stating that a cost cap "constitutes cheating", and should therefore result in a firm punishment.
Horner has now recently added that he believes a number of teams will have exceeded 2022's cost cap, but Seidl has responded to this quickly:
“There’s absolutely no reason to be in breach this year.
"We had good discussions earlier this year with all teams, the FIA and F1 regarding these topics.
“That’s why the cap was adjusted and it was also made clear from all teams and the FIA’s side that there is absolutely no reason, after this positive decisions in the interests of the sport, that there is any breach at the end of the year.
“I just hope if there is any breach, it ends up being appropriate penalties.”