Ferrari ‘not happy’ with ‘very limited’ Red Bull penalty
F1’s governing body the FIA announced on Friday that it had struck an Accepted Breach Agreement with Red Bull after the team were found guilty of exceeding the $145m spending limit set for 2021.
Red Bull have been hit with a $7m fine and a 10 percent cut in aerodynamic testing time for the next 12 months, but Ferrari racing director Laurent Mekies does not believe the punishment fits the crime.
In an interview with Sky Sports Italia, Mekies said: “We have talked a lot in recent weeks about what one can do with half a million more, or a million or two or three. Two million is a significant amount and we have given our opinion several times on this topic.
"We at Ferrari think that this amount is worth around a couple of tenths and so it's easy to understand that these figures can have a real impact on the outcome of the races, and maybe even a championship.
"As for the penalty, we are not happy with it, for two important reasons. The first is that we at Ferrari do not understand how the 10% reduction of the ATA [aerodynamic research allowance] can correspond to the same amount of lap time that we mentioned earlier.
"Furthermore, there is another problem in that, since there is no budget cap reduction in the penalty, the basic effect is to push the competitor to spend the money elsewhere.
"It has total freedom to use the money it can no longer spend on use of the wind tunnel and CFD due to the 10% reduction, on reducing the weight of the car or who knows what else.
"Our concern is that the combination of these two factors means the real effect of the penalty is very limited.”
McLaren have also made it clear they are not satisfied with the penalty, with CEO Zak Brown telling BBC Sport: "If the FIA is to be most effective and its punishments serve as a lesson to others when rules are broken in this way, the sanctions have to be much stronger in the future.”
McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl also claimed the FIA’s sanction for Red Bull doesn’t “fit the breach”.
Reacting to the news following Friday practice at the Mexico City Grand Prix, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff told Sky Sports: “I think the most important thing for me is there is a robust governance.
“They didn't bat an eyelid, they just followed the process.
"Federico [Lodi, FIA head of financial regulations] and his team, Sheila Ann [Rao] and Nicholas [Tombazis] were absolutely good in assessing.
"I know how rigorous they were with us, all throughout the year - that was a difficult process. When I am seeing 13 positions that were wrong, with us that wasn't the case.
“And it is good to see that there is a penalty, whether we deem it too low or too high.”
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